Hyper Dimension Neptunia: Shadow of ash
by WretchedSpectre
Summary: Fletcher, A hunter of monsters ranging from small slimes to fearsome dragons is contracted by a woman wearing some very revealing clothing to help rid her of a dragon problem but everything is not as it seems. Soon he is dragged into another world where he must face a serious problem and a lot of dragons. Will he survive in his new enviroment or will the girls tear him apart?
1. Chapter 1

Feeling the brush beneath my boots crunch softly I froze up. I could hear the soft rumbles of a nearby dragon snore, slowly I began to creep forward again, listening carefully to its snores for a break in the rhythm.

Dragon hunting was dangerous and usually taken on by groups of adventures but I was doing this solo, I had been hunting this one for a few weeks, slowly poisoning it and reducing its strength so I could take it on. It was finally sleeping and attempting to regain its lost strength but I wasn't going to let it.

Finally reaching the dragon's side I slowly clambered my way up its scaly side, not too quickly that I woke the beast up but not too slowly that I lost my grip on the smooth scales. Reaching its head I pulled out my long sword slowly but the sound of metal rasping on leather was too much and the eyes of the dragon opened in a second.

Leaping forward I buried the sword into the weakest area in a dragon's skull, the section between the snout and the top of the skull, my blade struck home and it roared and screamed, thrashing it's head from left to right to attempt to dislodge the blade but I would not let go and my blade would not budge.

Eventually it fell to the ground and I dislodged the sword, flicking away the blood as the dragon's body starting shining before it exploded into pixels, a small portal appeared in front of me showing me the materials I had gained for completing this hunt and where they would be stored, swiping it away I sheathed my sword on my back and walked off.

Trudging back to the main camp I signalled to a custodian and watched as the airship came down to pick me up before transporting me back to the flagship.

The year was 2312, guns and fossil fuels had been replaced by the discovery of magic and the plague of monsters has forced humanity to take to the sky's to protect them from all possible ground threats while putting high bounties on flying targets that could destroy the cities, dragons were some of the highest bounties because of the amount of cities they have destroyed. With the use of science and magic swords became the go to weapon because of the fact they can store large portions of magic in the blade therefore making it stronger.

Some people preferred making their weapons flashy with tons of fire, ice and other elements but I preferred the edge to be keen and strong so I never stood out but I had carved a name for myself as a dragon hunter and a solo hunter at that so I eventually became a wanted man for the cities to use on any dragons they know are in the area.

You could never permanently kill a monster but you can disband the magic that holds them together for a while and you just have to keep disbanding them if they become a regular nuisance. The airship landed at the flagship and I stepped off looking down at the hopeful faces of the people who had gathered there, this particular dragon had been attacking this city, not enough to destroy the city but enough to cause a slaughter.

Raising my fist in the standard hunter salute the reaction was deafening. Tears streamed down people's faces as 'thank you' poured in as I attempted to navigate my way through the horde of people. I wasn't cut out for the public spotlight...

Knocking on the front door of the mayor's office I was led in by a ecstatic servant to a grinning mayor "You've done it again Fletcher, our city is, once again, in your debt" He roared with laughter and gratitude, getting up and clasping my hand firmly.

This man was in his fifties yet he had the body of a professional lifter and a magnificent beard, "It's fine Jack honest, this is my job so I'm used to it" I replied.

I wasn't lying, I had grown used to hunting dragons so being called out to hunt a dragon isn't usually a big deal unless they can give a name, then I know im in for a fight as dragons who can speak are on a completely different level than standard dragons, they can, in turn, be convinced to stop attacking a city and in some cases assist in the defence of the city for a price but most dragons that speak are greedy and require extensive planning and research.

Those are the dragons I remember the most as they always have a way to get into your head, you can train yourself to resist but you can never stop a dragon breaking in. I have in turn developed my own ways to hunt dragons with the ability to speak and invade your mind, ways to silence them and to tire them out with a contest of wills and wit.

"Well if it isn't a problem then you might want to meet a lady who wishes to speak with you in person, and Fletcher my old friend and sly dog you are a lucky man!" he roared with laughter while nudging me in the ribs with his meatloaf fingers

"Right right I know what you mean you old pervert" I laughed along with him, lightly batting away his fingers before turning serious for a bit "Are you sure I should speak to her in person? You usually do the talking"

"Yes it will be best if you talked to her, with the job she's offering" He responded before a smile breaking out onto his face again "I will summon her here for tomorrow so before then you may want to clean up, especially that dirty old cloak of yours, we have so many better looking ones then that old thing" He joked.

He knew how much this cloak meant to me and what it symbolizes, it's a dark old thing but I carry it to tell my story.

Leaving the mayor's office with a red mark on my back from a good natured "pat" on the back from Jack I made my way to my home, I was born in this city and even though I was hired out by other cities to take care of their problems I will always call this floating rock my home.

Shrugging my weapons off my back I laid them out beside my bed and took a quick inspection of them, my sword took the larger sheath, above it rested another sword hilt, this one with a broken blade, it was slimmer but I had refined it to the same point of my normal sword and used it just as much, that broken blade was as much of my history as my cloak.

Finally I checked my bow, it was made from a rare oak that attacks anyone who approaches it doesn't like but I managed to gain its blessing to take a branch from it, in return anything I kill with arrows fired from the bow their life force will transfer to the tree, sustaining it.

Finally I looked to myself, I was covered in dirt and grime for my troubles of killing that dragon, my usual dark green leather had become browned, the metal additions had gained a slight rust to them.

My scarf had moulded slightly but the cloak... It will always stay fresh, a prize for my loss and achievements. it's white and black patterns was a telltale sign to any one, it was a sign of loss, the slash of red across the bottom was a sign of vengeance and the medallion of a arrow crossed with a star showed the blessing of the elves, a elder race who does not give out blessing lightly and neither should ones who have that blessing.

I shoved everything into a cleaner and started it up while I stepped into my shower, with the help of magic the water was always heated to the individuals benefits so the water was warm and pleasant, helping to relax my muscles. Clambering out of the shower I dried myself off before slipping on some simple shorts and collapsing onto my bed for a deserved sleep

"This woman better be something pretty fucking special to get in the way of my break time" I mumbled before passing into the endless void that is known as sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

It was around midday when I awoke and began getting ready for the day "Fuck it" I said slowly strapping my armour and weapons on, I never wore anything else "If this woman wants to talk to me this badly then she can have the patience to wait for me"

Trudging down the street I began to run over the most likely possibilities that could happen:

A) She is a hunter wanting to become my apprentice as it's happened before and no-one seems to get that when I keep the hunter board updated saying im not taking anyone on as my apprentice,

B) She is some corporate official trying to lure me into politics with either honey words or her body, that's happened too many times for my liking or

C) She has a major problem that requires my immediate attention, which I really hope it isn't as I like my sleep after a job.

Arriving at the mayor's office I knocked lightly on the door and watched as it was thrown by the ever happy Jack "Ah Fletcher! Right on time I was just about to call her to come over!" He ushered me in while I hid my disappointment at not being able to have her wait for me to arrive.

I sat down on the second biggest seat in the conference room Jack had set up while he began calling her, it was only polite to let the lady have the bigger, comfier seat but I was still comfortable as I began to reach for a sugar cube Jack popped his head round the corner.

"Seems like she is just outside, she saw you enter and is coming in now" He mused before going to the door at the sound of a soft knock.

Cursing I quickly grabbed a sugar cube and crunched on it furiously while I pulled the hood from my cloak down over my eyes and pulling the scarf on my face up to cover my mouth, I didn't like it when strangers saw my face, especially if they are going to try and pull something on me.

"Ah good afternoon miss Iris, he's just in there so please head on in and please forgive his rough tone, he doesn't... work well with strangers or employers as they usually come through me" I heard Jack say which was true.

They started coming to Jack with the work they wanted for me after a high ranking official got upset because I turned his offer down to get him a pet dragon, he pulled out a ornate looking dagger to attempt to threaten me but Jack was in the next room and launched the official through the window of his office, bellowing threats at the scarpering man.

The woman's name caught my attention though, Iris was often used to describe someone's ranking in the royal family so that told me that either I was going to be talking to a rock with hair who couldn't take no for an answer or some princess who wants me to fetch something for her or be her plaything, neither of those I was willing to do.

The woman known as Iris entered the room, softly closing the door behind her and began walking towards the larger chair, peering out from under the hem of the hood I could see the lower half of her body, she had a figure that would make most women tear their hair out in rage and wore clothing that wasn't afraid to show it off, the colour of purple was almost common place on her, combining with black they oddly contrasted and look quite good, but I refused to look any further up, I knew of magic that could take your will the moment you looked into someone's eyes and I refused to lose to that level of magic.

"So you are the greatest dragon hunter in this dimension?" Her voice seemed teasing and playful but that wasn't what caught my attention.

"You talk like you aren't from round here, you a princess from the capital or something?" I kept my voice neutral, this could be some princess referring to a flagship as a dimension then she was tripping on some form of power fetish.

"Oh I'm a princess to be sure but not from your little capital, it's too crowded and boring for my liking. This cosy little flagship is cute and has a feeling of home to it" She said, the seduction and almost lust in her voice so thick that I knew I needed to keep my wits as sharp as my sword to avoid falling into a trap.

"So miss Iris why do you want me?" I asked, trying to keep this conversation short, lustful women who are denied for too long usually get touchy feely and I was not one for that.

"Ah a man who gets straight to the...juicy point... I like that" She purred, adjusting her position in the seat before continuing "My dimension is a little overrun with dragons and I've been sent out to find someone in another dimension to assist. The other princesses are working hard to push them back but it's a losing battle and we've had to result to teleportation to move goods around"

She speaks of dimensions not like a princesses would, finally I looked up at her face and I could clearly see she wasn't from our plane of existence; it had a almost godly air to it, her skin almost shone. Her eyes and hair were a deep shade of purple. Now that I could see her entire body I could see that her "armour" was also containing pinks and reds. Now I say armour it was more like a bikini that a dominatrix would wear, complete with a riding crop at her side, Jack wasn't kidding with his poorly hid hints, this woman had a figure women would die for and that's not going into detail.

"Ah you finally look at me in the eyes hmm?" She purred again, licking a gloved finger, I just noticed she has red hearts in her eyes.

"Yeah thought I should look at you clearly to see if you were a princess from the capital tripping out on some form of power fetish" I responded keeping my voice neutral still, I could tell she preyed on emotion and weakness so I needed to stay strong

"Oh I have many fetishes, power is one of them but I don't mind playing the submissive one" She winked at me before licking her lips, I felt the blood on my cheeks start burning and I was glad I had this scarf up. "So do you believe me that I'm from a different dimension?"

"Yeah I do now, so what's the pay for this job?" I asked, keeping her on track.

"We can discuss that when we arrive but it will be enough to set you for life" She responded easily.

"Fine I'll take this job, when do we leave?" I asked, getting up.

"Soon so best tell your friend in there you'll be gone for a long time" She got up to and walked towards the door "I'll be outside the office"

She walked out but not before winking at me and stretching to show off her form more. After she left I grabbed the bowl of sugar cubes, I was gonna need them for the trip. Stepping out I looked at Jack and simply nodded. He could already tell I was gonna be gone long so he said nothing but gave me a simple nod back. Stepping out I saw Iris leaning against the wall

"Oh and before we go I must do something" She said before walking up to me and pulling me close. A portal seemed to open beneath us as she pulled out a phone and proceeded to pull my scarf down and kiss me, pushing herself onto me. It wouldn't be wrong to assume I did not expect it. _Snap!_ a camera lens shuttered before everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Pushing Iris off me I held back a cry of shock when I opened my eyes "Where the hell are we!?" I shouted to her, currently it seemed like we were in freefall in some form of pinkish purple vortex.

"We are in the space between worlds, my dear friend Histoire is currently pulling us to my city" She smirked while walking towards me, small circles of light appearing beneath her feet allowing her to walk towards me while I was stuck in freefall "You know you are really cute when you are stuck in free fall" She purred, running a gloved finger across my cheek, angling my body I slowly glided away from her so she couldn't touch me and so I could cover my face.

"S shut up there isn't meant to be any relationship between employer and employee" I retorted, managing to pull my scarf up over my face.

"Aw but where is the fun in that?" she returned, a wicked smile on her face. Suddenly light formed beneath my feet so I could stand "Now boys who run deserve to be punished" She smirked before pulling out her riding crop and _CRACKING_ it for good measure

"... I need a adult" I managed to say, I've fought dragons, trolls, orcs and elves but this was even scarier

"I am an adult" She purred.

About half an hour later she decided to stop, everything hurt. There were no places that was off limits to this dominatrix and I could only dodge her swings for so long.

"So who's a good boy?" She purred

"..." I mumbled something too low for her to hear

"Sorry what was that?" She asked leaning closer, and falling right into my trap, rolling backwards I planted both feet under her chin, launching her upwards, rolling back onto my feet I watched in satisfaction as light formed beneath her causing her to crash into it.

"Not this hunter" I smirked, cocky I know but I wanted to get this bitch back for all she has done. I watched as she got up, her hair obstructing her face but I could feel the dark aura coming off her and I knew what I did was a mistake.

"How dare you..." I heard her whisper, not wanting to back down I decided the best route would be to pour some salt into the wounds.

"I've felt worse than your barrage, was like feathers brushing my skin" I goaded, if I could get her to charge me then it could be turned against her

"How...dare...you..." She whispered again, her gloved hands balling up into fists, the dark aura coming off her was like a hammer but I stood my ground "That... That..." She growled, her head flicking up and I could see her eyes had changed. Instead of red hearts in her eyes they were pink and a smile was on her face, a very... happy smile.

Her legs began to shake and she held her arms as her whole body began to shake too but she kept eye contact. "That felt so good" she whispered before sprinting towards me.

Now I wasn't expecting this so my guard was down obviously, just before she launched herself at me, arms outstretched to grab me and push me down I noticed the vortex around us disappear and I managed to make out the form of five figures on my right and four on my left but then Iris collided with me, pinning me down.

"Welcome to our dimension, I know this must be difficult for you to process but I am here to help with that" A voice to my right said apparently not taking in what was happening.

There was a collective gasp from all the others, all feminine before a whole load of voices began shouting different things, all impossible to hear correctly as Iris was leaning closer to me all the time, her face was flushed but she didn't seem to care, I felt like a animal caught by a predator, scared stiff.

Before Iris could pull my scarf down again someone pulled her off me which resulted in a squeak of protest from her, poking my head up I was finally able to get a clear look at everyone, there were... two of each person?

Other than Iris and this other purple haired girl who looked nothing like Iris there were apparently copies of everyone; two girls with snow white hair, two girls with ocean blue hair, two girls with emerald green hair and... two girls sitting on books, one so small she could fit on the palm of my hand.

"Right.. as I was saying while the Blanc's hold Iris" The bigger of the two girls on the books said "Welcome to our dimension, if you have any problems please come ask me or Histy" She gestured towards the mini version of her "I am Histoire and you are?" She asked as I slowly picked myself off the ground and dusting myself off

"Fletcher, just Fletcher. My first name is irrelevant" I replied, sure it wasn't exactly a polite greeting but when you are surrounded by women all the same size or bigger than you, plus they are seemingly cloned, you got to be on your toes

"That's fine Fletcher" Histoire said, before turning each one of the twins "The two with the white hair are both called Noire or Black heart" She said as they both held out their hands for me to shake one after the other

"Look it's not like I wanted to meet you ok? Let's get this business done already" one of them said, looking to the side so they didn't meet my eyes, her clothing was darker than the other one's so I decided to call her Noir and the other black heart.

"Right nice to see you too" I replied bluntly, making a mental note to not bother getting a straight answer from either of those two.

"The ladies in green are both called Vert or Greenheart" Histoire continued, they both held out a slender arm but not before making sure to push their already large chest out even more

"Pleasure to meet you Fletcher" Their tones honeysuckle sweet but I could taste the salt.

"The same to you" I replied evenly, noting their roaming eyes

"You will do a good job yes?" The one on the left said, she was greener than the other so I'll just call her green heart

"That's what I'm being paid for" I simply informed her which for some reason rewarded me with a confused expression.

"The ones who currently have Iris, who I can tell you've already had the pleasure of meeting, pinned to the floor so she doesn't try anything are both called Blanc or White heart" Histoire continued, giving Iris a look that could melt Ice after Greenheart whispered something to her, they both looked up at me and gave me a simple and curt nod, I returned it already taking a liking to those two due to their simple greeting.

"Lastly we have Neptune or Purple heart" Histoire finished gesturing to the other purple haired girl beside Iris

"Pleased to meet you" Purple heart said, her tone of voice regal and fair

"The same" I replied, she sounded nice but something told me I wasn't seeing her true self "Now we must discuss what Iris told you".

 _Half an hour later_

"You're kidding right? Please tell me you are kidding..." I muttered, burying my face in my hands.

"I'm sorry but I am not, once you had passed through the portal you could not return to your previous dimension, all knowledge of you has been removed so no one knows you even existed" Histoire said grimly

"I might kill Iris..." I continued darkly

"Could you at least do that after sorting our problem out first? We are still in dire need of your help" Histy said

"Fine, do you have a map? Then you can show me where the dragons and such are then I can eliminate them at my own pace" I grumbled getting up from the table I was sat at, we had moved into the centre of a large tower they called the basilacom. Moving back into a living room the group of girls all were buried in what I can assume was a game device "Iris..." I growled, slowly pulling out my broken sword, holding it in a underhand grip

"Oh dear..." I heard Histoire say and Histy was shouting something, probably for me to stop but I wasn't paying attention, blood for blood. I could see the other girls could sense the murderous intentions from me and had slowly scooted away from where Iris lay, in an open position.

But it looked like I wasn't the only one with a trap planned as when I stood above her, ready to plunge the blade into her spine when she turned and grabbed me and launching the both of us through the walls of the building.

We crashed down in a forest within a few seconds, rolling with the impact I got back on my feet as she got up, the red hearts were back again "Ready to dance are we?" She purred unhooking the whip again

"Let's dance" I growled, pulling my sword out and holding the broken blade in a underhand grip.


	4. Chapter 4

"I is he still alive?" A voice rang out "Yeah, he put up a decent fight but he's in no state to beat me" A familiar and teasing voice replied "He finished first sadly" "Oh god Plutie we don't need any innuendoes here" the other voice replied. Seems like she won, looking back I can see that she was toying with me, letting me get close and hopeful so she could just take it away cruelly 'Damn I'm going to need to toughen up' I thought bitterly, not daring to open my eyes for whatever sight that may be waiting to greet me "Should we try waking him?" A new, timid voice rang out "No Neppy, let's let him rest" The first voice replied, slowly getting further and further away "He's going to be helping us out with our dragon problem so we need him at his peak condition" The sound of a door closed softly, slowly and carefully I opened one of my eyes a bit to look around, the place I was in was brightly lit and colourful, a stark contrast to what my old home looked like. Stuffed toys lined the walls and floor confirming my suspicions, I was currently lying in the bed of a girls room, and I hoped to dear god it wasn't the room of the woman of my troubles "I can already tell you are awake so no point in hiding it" Her voice rang out causing my blood to freeze, opening both eyes I scanned the room for her but I couldn't see her at all "I'm in the shower currently so don't worry I'm not going to jump you, cute as you may be, I've sworn to let you rest and bring you up to speed on the current situation with my city" Her voice continued, a slight tone of seriousness in it but still heavy with teasing tones "So what should I do while you get changed in the shower?" I asked, pushing myself to the edge of the bed "Getting changed in the shower? You are so funny, I'm going to be getting changed in my room" She giggled, a sound I never thought I'd hear from her "What you can do while you wait is have a look is that training roster beside you, we have to strengthen you up before you can take those dragons on" Attempting to avoid turning tomato red I looked at the small folder beside me, picking it up I opened it and pulled out a large wad of paper "Oh god..." I muttered looking at the miniature book in front of me "That is only a two week plan, we need to look about your weapons armour etc but I'll let Blanc do all that boring stuff" I heard her voice right beside my ear, before it was like a loudspeaker all around me now I could tell it was her "You can turn around if you want red ears" She purred "Or you could be a good little boy and keep looking at that paper" Not wanting to make a comment I kept my head buried in the paper, this caused her to laugh "Oh you are unlike all the others, they would of stammered and blushed like bitches in heat, but you have a great deal of restraint" She giggled. I could hear the rustling of clothes a slightly groan "I'm going to need to buy new clothes soon..." She groaned "Y you do that then, I'll just keep looking at this schedule" I managed to say "Isn't it polite for men to accompany ladies shopping? and as you are the only male here you are obliged to come with me" She giggled "What do you mean only male? surely there are more guys" I asked, cocking my head to the side but not turning round "You can look at me, I'm covered" She huffed "Anyway I'm not talking till you face me properly" mentally kicking myself I slowly turned to face her.

She sat with her legs tucked underneath her and fiddling with her hair slightly, she was wearing a purple and blue dress with ribbons on it, she was currently platting her hair up so it wasn't as long as it used to be, her eyes were more pink that when I last saw her properly, she looked... cute, blushing I looked behind her at the clock on the wall "Happy now?" I said "No look at me, not the clock" She huffed, I could see her puffing her cheeks out almost sulking from my 'inability' to look at her properly "Fiiine" I responded, it wasn't that I didn't want to look at her, I was afraid what might happen if I did look at her. Looking her directly in the eyes I refused to let my eyes wander anywhere else "Ready for me to bring you up to speed?" She asked, I could see the amusement in her eyes as she stretched her arms up, her eyes never leaving mine as I took a keen interest in the ceiling "Yeah I guess I am" I replied 'I will not lose this challenge you dominatrix' I thought angrily "Well simply it's completely fucked as you would put it" she put bluntly "Oh and you won't" She added, a sly grin spreading across her face "Kinda guessed that, any details you could give me on these 'dragons' " I responded, irritation spreading throughout my system about how she can read my mind so easily "Oh right yes I almost forgot about your little inquiry at my choice of words" Iris continued, shifting her position slightly before continuing "There is a reason to why you haven't seen a single male so far is because of a old rival of dear Neppy decided to take it out on the population of the world, she meant to turn everyone into a monster ranging from a dragon to some freaky alone creature like Noir" She flicked her head to the side to remove some hair from her eyes "Problem is she messed it up a bit so anyone with dick got affected and those who didn't stayed the same. Normal monsters became mini bosses, bosses became end game bosses and so forth" She continued "So you are telling me im the only male human alive so far?" I enquired, hoping it was a joke, almost praying it was a joke "Yup, the only guy alive. Aren't you the lucky one" She winked at me but I barely noticed. A normal guy would be happy, almost ecstatic at this news thinking how all these women needed him to help bring the male population up again if the dragons can't be turned back but I was not, I have had multiple bad experiences with women majority being me not being able to talk to them and the other being them throwing themselves at me for some form of political / personal gain. To put it simply I was holding back a wave of panic. "This is not a good day..." I muttered holding my head in my hands.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been four days since I came here, four days of pure hell. Each day was spent with twins of the same name, build and personality all trying their best to train me up for fighting these dragons. The Vert's concentrated on teaching me fast attacks, which I knew from experience never worked on dragons with armoured scales, Blanc's concentrated on pure power, which while an effective tool against a slower, less agile dragon fast moving dragons could easily dodge those strikes. The Noir twins (Tsundere twins?) attempted to show me how their level of stealth was better than mine in a game of hide and seek with the other girls, they only found me by sending Iris heart in with orders to drag me out of the woods while the twins were found a hell of a lot earlier than I was. Iris concentrated on endurance. I shall not speak of the training program she used but all you need to know is that I shall forever have scars and now it was the fifth day.

"Ah you have arrived" Neptune said as I entered the training hall, the room was decorated like a cherry garden this time, pink petals fell around me but I knew better, all this was a simulation really as it was winter and cherry blossoms do not bloom in winter "Yes I have, so what's the plan for today?" I asked her cautiously, all of the girls beside Iris heart had been well guarded and said nothing about themselves but were immensely curious about me, Neptune was no different "Sit down please" She stated simply, indicating in front of her with a small wave of her hand, she was sitting on her knees in front of a small table, on the table were two china cups and a china tea pot, kneeling in the same manner I unstrapped my holster and quiver and laid them to the side, it was rude to be armed at a table. "I will ask again before I do anything else, what is the plan for today" I repeated firmly, looking her in the eyes "Today we will be..." She paused for almost dramatic effect "Drinking tea and resting" She smiled before reaching forward and pouring tea into her own cup and my cup. I wasn't one for tea but I wasn't going to be rude and point it out or refuse her generous offer "Please tell me this isn't a onetime thing?" I returned the smile, just this simple thing was a god send after training with the others "Oh no don't worry I know that you need your rest after days of training" She almost laughed as she passed my cup over, I always wore fingerless gloves as they helped with grip so my finger tips were slightly burnt from how hot the cup was but I managed to avoid spilling any.

"So tell me Fletcher" She said, closing her eyes gently as she sipped from her cup "What was your dimension like?" Thinking on this I settled myself comfortably and taking a short sip from the cup rewarding myself with a burnt tongue for forgetting to blow on it "It was a lot like how this place looks, except we lived in floating fortresses due to the ground level being overrun with monsters and not as many dragons" I responded "Oh really? So the dragons weren't a problem?" She asked, a hint of surprise and interest in her eyes "Oh no don't get me wrong they were always a problem bar a few we could bargain with" I responded "But that is why people like me exist, to hunt dragons and other monsters" "Ah you were a hunter? I heard you were the best of hunters" She responded, adding the praise with a soft glint in her eyes "That's what I've been called yes, I would take dragons on by myself but it would take weeks, months and on one case, years" I responded, making my point clear "Dragon hunting is dangerous and takes time to remove just the one, with the problem you seem to be telling me you have is that there are too many dragons and you don't have a lot of time" "No I'm afraid we don't, we need to eliminate them quickly and efficiently" Neptune responded, a pinch of seriousness entering her voice "I have a couple ways to remove the weaker ones quickly but for any stronger ones I will need time so I say we eliminate the smaller one's first then focus on the bigger ones" I explained, seeing the gratitude enter her face as I explained my plan "That sounds like a good idea, you might need to be the one training us then, not the other way round" She almost laughed, almost got her out of her shell when a knock came from the door "Who is it?" She asked, confusion entering her eyes, turning I watched as the door opened to reveal two new girls, one of them was wearing very cutesy clothing, pinks and made of wool, her hair and eyes were a light pink too and a red cross was knitted into the side of her sleeve so I assumed she was a doctor or nurse. The other caught my attention though because she wasn't like the other girls I had met so far, she had dark brown hair with a green bow in it, she wore a dark blue trench coat and a black top with shorts, her eyes told me she had years of experience behind them, not just with fighting but with exploration. She had a look to her like she spent most of her life on the move, when she saw me her posture instantly became guarded and I could see her sleeves were concealing something. "Nep Nep who's this?" The pink one asked, her tone was a ditzy one that showed her innocence "Yeah... I'd like a answer to this too" The girl in the trench coat asked, her tone of voice was guarded, almost aggressive. "C Compa? Iffy? What are you two doing here?" Neptune's voice was filled with shock and confusion "We came to see you silly, we had brought food but it seems you already have a guest" the one who I guessed was Compa responded, her eyes never leaving me "Oh um this is..." Neptune started when Compa's expression brightened "Oh he must be a simulation!" She smiled before walking over and sitting to Neptune's right "Um.. he's actually-" Neptune tried to say before Iffy (Something told me that wasn't her real name) came over and sat down on Neptune's left "Really Neptune? You couldn't handle missing men that much you made one in the simulation" She said, squinting at me "It is a very detailed looking simulation" She continued "I'm not a simulation" I put bluntly "Whoa it speaks!" Iffy said in shock "Well it's a simulation so it could be programmed to do that" Compa said "I'll say it again I'm not a simulation" I repeated, reaching forward and sipping more of my tea "Yeah he's real" Neptune said, shaking her head as a cry of shock came from Iffy and Compa "No way!"


	6. Chapter 6

"No way is he real!" Iffy said, she left her mouth hanging open while pointing at me "I am, don't exactly see the problem" I replied, quietly sipping my tea as I look on in amusement. "B but how? Why!" She shouted, turning to Neptune "Um..." Neptune muttered, taking a keen interest in her tea "That's a long story..." "Well Nep Nep you can tell us after you introduced us to him" Compa said, a somewhat unnerving smile on her face "Oh right um Iffy, Compa this is Fletcher, Fletcher this is Iffy and Compa" Neptune hurriedly introduced us before sitting down, shifting awkwardly. "Right now I think I'll give the proper introduction" Iffy said, pointing to herself "My name isn't Iffy, it's IF. I'm known as the windwalker of Gamindsutri" "Ah a windwalker, there are few where I come from and those that are there are widely respected and sought after" I bowed my head in recognition and respect to her, noting her face was slightly flushed from the compliment "R right..." She stammered before turning to Compa "This is Compa, a nurse" Compa reached a delicate hand across the table, taking it I shook it gently "Pleased to meet you Mr Fletcher" She smiled "I hope you are enjoying yourself and Nep Nep hasn't been too pushy" "It's fine she's been kind and caring to me" I replied a smile spreading across my face "Good then she can have extra pudding today!" Compa replied a big smile on her face "Extra pudding? Yay Compa you are the best!" Neptune almost shouting in joy, her shell completely breaking "You are finally out of your shell" I mused, looking at the ecstatic Neptune "Ah..." She attempted to regain her former composure but gave up "I was trying to stay official until I've seen you in action but you are too much fun being around and pudding" She said, a cheeky smile on her face "Ah it's fine" I said, brushing off the apology "I expected as much and I'm glad someone's opened up to me"

So that became my routine, majority of the week was spent training with the girls mostly me teaching them tips instead of the other way round (except with Iris but no-one had endurance like her) and spending the fifth day with IF, Compa and Neptune. Neptune continued to open up to me but slowly while IF and Compa wouldn't stop pestering me for information about my own dimension, don't get me wrong it was fun and enjoyable having someone wanting to know all about you. None of the other girls have opened up yet so I can assume Neptune hasn't told them that she has opened up, after spending the day with Neptune and the others I usually have two days where I can do whatever I want, play games, train etc. Those days I usually spend out in the close forest that has been deemed "Dragon free" either hunting some easy kills or I spend it flopped on my bed not bothering to move except for food and water but it seemed like my usual routine was about to be interrupted.

 _Knock Knock Knock_

"Huh?" Mumbled, sleep still heavy in my eyes I looked towards the small alarm clock beside my bed thinking an alarm was going on but it all seemed peaceful. Shrugging it off I closed my eyes again, assuming I was hearing things, when...

 _KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

There it was again, louder this time and a lot more forceful than the last three. Getting up I moved towards the door, picking up my broken sword and hiding it behind the door as I opened it up slightly. Standing outside my door was IF, she looked nervous and was rubbing her cheek as she looked at the door "Yes?" My voice seemed to startle her and she looked up suddenly, she had a slight blush on her face "So um..." She stammered "I I know this is sudden but... want to go on a w walk?" To say this caught me off guard would be an understatement "Um... Sure I guess let me get a few things" I replied, I could already feel the heat rising on my face and I really didn't need to start spreading rumours about this place. Moving away from the door I put the broken blade back where I left it before, taking a moment to examine the tip "still sharp, good" I muttered before walking towards where I left my cloak and sword. Pulling the cloak over my shoulders I felt a small pang of sadness before brushing it aside and pulling the sheath over my shoulders too, I wasnt going anywhere without my blades and cloak. Walking back towards the door I picked up the broken blade, slotting it in the second, smaller sheath which rested just above the swords sheath. Pulling the door open again I greeted IF with a smile, which seemed to calm her down a bit "Right I'm ready, shall we go?"

"Well this is Planeptune's public gardens" IF announced waving her hands in front of us, I must admit it was a beautiful garden filled with varying colours, pinks, yellows, blues and purple's. "Wow who planted all of this?" I asked, bending down to stroke a soft petal "I'd like to say Neptune but it was really the women who work in the basilacom" IF smiled softly "Mainly for remembrance of all the men who were changed" "Well... I'm sorry to hear that" I said, walking over to the edge of the garden and looking at the horizon "What is that blotch on the horizon?" I asked, squinting towards it, it looked like it was getting closer and bigger "Hmm? That's..." I could see out of the corner of my eye as IF leaned forward and began to pale "That's a dragon making a beeline towards this city!" Turning she ran towards a pillar in the garden and pressed a button, suddenly alarms were ringing and I could hear below me a whole load of commotion happening. "IF where is the best spot to jump towards that dragon?" I shouted, already dreading the plan I had in mind "Well I guess that would be the basilacom why? You won't survive the fall" "That's where you are wrong... I hope" Turning I ran towards the elevator, IF slipped inside right behind me "I'm coming with you" She huffed, crossing her arms "To the basilacom but not for the jump, trust me this is gonna hurt"


	7. Chapter 7

"Tell me again why you think jumping from the basilacom is a good idea?" IF asked, her voice was heavy with scepticism.

"It's the highest point in this city right?" I asked her again while looking out of the window as the dragon flew over the city's southern walls before slowly turning round.

"Well yeah no other building is taller than it" She replied

"Well then the dragon will have to pass underneath it and by using the force of gravity and the speed I would gain from jumping from this I could by all means thrust my sword deep into the dragons head without needing to jam it into the weakest area in its skull" I concluded, walking away from the window "Could you please look out the window and tell me when it just passes over the walls?"

Watching IF move over to the glass she pressed her hand against the glass while watching the dragon "You know this could go terribly wrong right?" The worry in her voice was obvious... almost cute

"No need to worry 'bout me, just make sure your friends are ready to scrape me off the ground if I fudge this" I commented while mentally kicking myself for almost calling her cute

"Don't say that you are going to make me panic!" She almost shouted "I'll tell them to try and catch you if you miss" She pulled out what looked like a phone and began tapping away at the screen while looking at the dragons progress every now and then.

"So..." I couldn't stop myself fidgeting, this felt new again hunting dragons for the safety of others. I could feel the leather which wrapped itself around my swords handle grip my skin, age and use making it strong and reliable, the blade felt keen and was almost singing in anticipation for the adventure.

"It's passing over the wall now!" IF shouted, her head whipping round to face me. Her eyes were filled with both worry and determination, but I had barely any time to register all that as I ran at the glass window and threw myself through it, shattering it easily.

As I fell it struck me that there were probably so many other ways I could of gotten to the dragon without jumping from the top of the tallest building. "Why do I always choose the most dangerous option?" I thought as I fell. I could hear my lips flapping about as I fell with increasing speed, It was almost beautiful seeing the city from this height as buildings raced up to meet me. Almost. Seeing the dragon approaching I pulled my arms in front of me and held my sword in both hands, if this worked I should kill this dragon and land in the city. If I completely miss calling me jam wouldn't be an inaccurate description of the state I'd be in. Everything was going smoothly, it's head was right below me when is suddenly sped up, so instead of landing on the head and not getting liquid fire going up my arms from the sudden stop I hit the neck, and got liquid fire for my troubles. I gritted my teeth to stop myself screaming out in pain but it was a losing battle, my screams were drowned out by the dragons own bloody screams as it began to spiral faster and faster out of control, just avoiding crashing into the walls of the city, as I was whipped backwards and forwards I could see the top of a lush green forest approach before we collided with the forest. There was a sharp _Crack!_ then everything went black...

Slowly I felt my eyelids crack open, sunlight was pouring through the gaps in the trees almost blinding me as I began to push myself up into a sitting position. "That was the worst Idea I've ever had" I muttered, slowly checking my body over to make sure I haven't lost any limbs, so far nothing was missing, but when I tried to move my right arm it wouldn't budge, when I pushed it with my left hand it moved with the push and flopped back against my body with barely any resistance. "One broken arm, check" I muttered as I awkwardly pushed myself onto my feet, wincing in the sudden and sharp pain in my chest "Three broken ribs, check". Looking around I could see the path the dragon's body took, trees lay shattered and broken and a deep, ugly tear in the ground showed how hard it hit the ground.

Following the trail of destruction I found it, laying there. It's wings were clearly broken, they lay at odd, grotesque angles. It's black blood covered the surrounding fauna, it's eyes were closed while it's tongue rolled out of its mouth. As I approached it's body I could take in the beauty of its scales, they had a golden hue to them, reflecting the sunlight beautifully, but then I saw something that made my blood run cold. The dragon's chest was moving when suddenly one of its eyes opened.

"So..." It said, it's mouth moving slowly to form the words "You are the mortal who brought me down?"

"Yeah I guess so" I replied, I wasn't too shocked as I've met dragons who could speak before but this one seemed different

"Who would of guessed an elder dragon would be brought down by such a small creature" It attempted to chuckled but winced in pain.

"How are you still alive?" I asked, curious and pitying the poor creature for the pain it must be in "How are you talking?"

"I am unsure, I just as surprised myself, maybe it is fate I survive long enough to talk to you and pass on my gift" It replied, turning its head to face me. It's eyes were a pale yellow, like mature cheddar.

"Your gift?" I asked, I had heard of men and women receiving gifts before from dragon kind but never seen it for myself, I had dismissed it as a rumour, made by people who wanted a chance to be in the spotlight. Neither had I thought the dragons from my world would be so similar to the dragons in this world, from what evidence I had seen so far.

"Aye, I believe you should have it, a gift of fire and ash" It murmured, it's head resting on the ground again as it's eye's closed for the final time. Suddenly it's body burst into flame before the fire began snaking it's way towards me. I stepped backwards in shock but the flames danced up my leg and soon covered me, I felt my bones snap back into place by some unknown power, I could feel a new strength enter my bones as the fire died down. Suddenly from the silence a voice burst forward.

"Well met Fletcher, I am Kar'zul, the elder dragon of fire and ash" The voice was the exact same as the dragons voice from earlier

"What have you done!?" I exclaimed in shock, moving my right arm slowly, making sure this wasn't some trick.

"I have fused my soul and power with yours, you now live your life blessed with the soul of a dragon, an elder dragon" Kar'zul said, "I will be your guide and will live on inside your head"

"This is a lot to take in at once..." I mutter walking towards the bones of the dragon that was left, my sword sticking out of one of the bones that made up its neck.

"I can understand a mortal such as yourself wouldn't understand what has happened so I shall endeavour to describe to you what has happened" He replied "I shall repeat, I have blessed you with my power and soul. This has extended your life time to near immortality, your hide has become stronger, your eyesight keener. You will be able to sense the life force of nearby beings and their emotional state. I have given you my knowledge of my race's tongue meaning you can speak with my kind. Fire will no longer hurt you in any way or form, your arm's shall fell the mightiest of trees. You are in basic terms a half dragon." He concluded.

"Can't tell whether this is awesome or weird" I wonder aloud before an idea hit me, walking over to a fallen oak I put both of my arms under it and try to lift it, suddenly the oak is launched into the air "Ok it's now decided this is bloody awesome!" I grinned "I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship Kar'zul"

"Indeed Fletcher, I have lived a long life as a dragon, I must ask you show me what it is like being human" He replied, a touch of humour in the tone of his voice.

"Aye I think I can do that" I kept on grinning, enjoying this new sense of power when I heard what sounded like panting and cracking of undergrowth.

"Please be ok, please be ok" A voice muttered to themselves, it sounded like IF but she couldn't of gotten here already.

"That is the power of your hearing now, she has only just entered the forest now, she is just under five miles away from us" Kar'zul said, sounding smug

"Damn... You've got some good hearing" I whistled softly "Should I tell her about what happened with us?"

"No it would be best to leave me out of the story for a while, who knows how they will react to the knowledge we are fused together" He replied "Also someone is about to collide with you"

"Hu-" I managed to say before someone collided with into the front of me, wincing I looked up to find IF sitting on top of me, seems like we fell when she accidentally ran into me. Her face became heavily flushed as she tried to think up a reason or excuse for the current situation. But I didn't mind, I was still preoccupied with Kar'zul

"Just under five miles away huh Kar'zul?" I thought, a smile touching my lips.

"Shut up I just died" He replied, sounding like he was sulking "Maybe you should be worried about the female sitting on your crotch currently"

"My crotch..." the thought trailed off as I took in where IF was sitting, her hands on my chest as she met my eyes for the first time.

"Oh shit..." I managed to whisper as my own face became heavily flushed too.


	8. Chapter 8

For a moment we just sat there, staring into each others eyes. Now I've going to explain it wasn't like a lovers gaze or something, we weren't swooning for each other or something, this was a look of "Oh my god this isn't happening... Please tell me this isn't happening" kinda moment. The silence was broken by some branches snapping from behind us and the moment she heard the first _Snap!_ IF shot up and backed away, her hair barely covering her flushed face while she brushed herself off, I had barely gotten up myself when someone burst into the clearing behind me, turning round it looked like the majority of the others had caught up, with Iris leading the group.

"Oh I should kill you for what you've done!" She shouted, she was still running at me with her sword still out ready

"Whoa whoa I just killed this dragon and that's how you repay me!?" I shouted back, stepping backwards quickly ending up beside IF

"Wait up Plutia!" Neptune shouted running up behind Iris and holding her still whilst the others caught up.

"I seriously cannot believe you got rid of a dragon so quickly..." Histoire trailed off, Histy nodding slowly taking in the skeleton of the dragon.

"No it had to be a fluke" I heard Noire say from the back of the group.

"Yeah we must of hurt it enough for a simple sword like that to kill it" White heart responded, her voice filled with false bravado

"No your shots weren't hurting it at all" I responded, watching the group to make sure they took it all in "A dragons stomach is it's most armoured place, all of the scales and crystals are at their strongest their so your shots were simply bouncing off"

There was an audible gasp from the group when they heard this, "Wow guess they really are terrible at dragon hunting..." I thought to myself.

"Well then" Histoire said, a soft smile on her face "As you seem to know so much about dragons and how to hunt them maybe you should be the one teaching our defenders and this lot how to defeat them easier"

It was like my whole world fell from under me. Me. Teach. If I wasn't still feeling amazing thanks to Kar'zul I probably would of fainted or had a panic attack but I managed a thin smile.

"We'll see Histoire, first I'd like to rest then we can discuss teaching" I replied, heading towards the basilicom faintly aware that the girls were behind me and IF was walking beside me.

 _3 Days later_

"Now Blanc's please tell the class of giggling girls a dragons weak point" I asked, my head resting in one of my hands as I sat behind a wooden desk.

"Yes of course sir" Blanc stood up and so did white heart and as they both began answering the question I thought back on how this came about.

It seemed that I had no choice first of all whether I taught them or not, I was going to teach them and that was final apparently. The first day back from killing Kar'zul's body was spent introducing me to the public, which if you have forgotten is populated by girls and that's it. So that meant most of the girls looked at me with curiosity and shock, some were looking at me like how a starving dog looks at a three course meal. Full of hunger and lust. The second day involved setting up a building to host the defenders and the CPU's in, gathering the best equipment to teach others (This was scary as I walked around with myself proclaimed body guard IF all of the women were staring and some were following us) and Histoire giving an announcement about the classes so if women wanted to join the defence and fight effectively then they could go to said classes. The third day was spent prising me out of my room with their equivalent of a crowbar, Iris heart.

Zoning back into reality I praised the Blanc's on their answer even though I wasn't clearly listening I know they would get it right as they have both been writing notes down at such a speed that had to give them new pens as they used up the ink's in their pens.

"Sir! Sir! I have a question!" A voice came from the back as a slender hand waved about.

"Yes what is it?" I replied, already hating myself for acknowledging the question.

"Is it true you killed the dragon that appeared a few days ago by yourself?" The voice asked, sparking a few murmurs as all eyes were on me as I internally sighed.

"Yes I did kill the dragon that appeared a few days ago." I answered, already hearing Kar'zul chuckling to himself at my distaste for what I'm doing. He had been quiet these few days unless I asked him something or something catches his attention.

"Is it also true you are dating IF?" Another familiar voice spoke up suddenly. To say the hall exploded into noise would be an understatement. It was like a dragon had roared in there, girls were shouting here and some were standing up. Some were looking at me in shock and others were all staring at a heavily blushing IF, who up till now had been standing behind me in the corner of the building, half as a teaching assistant and the other half being a body guard.

"Shut up and sit down!" I shouted, slamming my fist down on the wooden desk, making the wood crack. I had managed to avoid putting all of my force into hitting the desk but I still nearly broke the desk. It did the trick though as all the girls quietened down instantly and quickly sat down, still curious about the question a oh so familiar teasing character decided to put forward.

"Now for your information Neptune, goddess of spreading rumours and falsity" I turned to face her, a thin smile dancing across my face "We are not dating or in any form of relationship like that" The room stayed silent when I said that. "Good. Now let us continue about the lesson before we get more falsity spreading"

"Sir?" Another familiar voice crept up

"Oh for the love of- Yes Noire?" I held myself back from shouting and attempted to put on a pleasant tone

"Why is it that the bone between the snout and the forehead the weakest?" She almost whispered the question but I managed to pick up the question thanks to my new hearing.

"Oh sorry I assumed something else" I apologized "The bone between the snout and forehead is weakest as the snout grows to counteract fires uncontrollability and allows the dragon to aim where the fire is going to go the bones around the forehead is moved and broken to assist in the strengthening of the snout as if the snout is broken it could kill the dragon as the fire could get stuck in the dragon's body resulting in an internal combustion which is always fatal, if it doesn't get stuck in the dragon's body then it wouldn't be able to use its mouth to eat or breath fire, essentially crippling it"

"Thank you sir" I heard Noire whisper again.

"Seems like Noire got her wish and was noticed" Kar'zul mused,

"Yes apparently so" I thought too, looking at the clock behind the group. I had been teaching them the general anatomy of the dragons so far, their strengths and weaknesses and it seemed like a good time to wrap it up.

"Right the lessons over, we shall finish up this subject tomorrow" I told the girls which was met with more than a few grumbles but no open protests as everyone filed out slowly. "I'm not cut out for this Kar'zul"

"No I think you are, you are just afraid about someone making some form of advance on you or failing" He replied, a deem hum echoing through my head calming me "You need to be yourself and try to enjoy the experience. It's not every day a teacher gets a room with more than fifty girls who listen to him"

"You sound like you've been a teacher" I thought as I finished packing up

"Something like that, I shall tell you tonight" Kar'zul, replied becoming quiet again as IF spoke up

"So where to now then?" She asked, she was trying to act casual about it but something was... off. I don't know what but something was a bit different about her.

"I guess back up to the basilacom" I answered, stashing the bag full of chalk in a cupboard door as I left the building.

"Um.. could we go to the flower garden first?" IF asked, her voice had been getting quieter and quieter by the second.

"Sure I guess, I haven't really got anything planned really" I answered, this felt way too serious to be a joke or just a simple detour.

"T thanks" She was begging to stammer while her hair was covering her face so I couldn't tell if she was crying.

As we were walking I could hear a soft laughter, it sounded like Kar'zul was finding something funny again.

"Right I'll bite what's so funny?" I thought angrily, if he knew something tragic was happening to IF he needed to say something now. I cared for her a lot and I didn't want her to cry.

"Oh nothing an old dragon like me hasn't seen before" He chuckled, he sounded a lot like Jack used to when he was happy.

"Oh yeah? what's up then?" I asked him, curiosity overtaking anger now, if he had seen something like this before then why wouldn't he tell me.

"I do not know the word for it in your tongue but it goes something like "Vanadul" in my tongue" He replied, rather cryptically.

"that's so helpful" I replied sarcastically as we reached the flower garden, it's arrays of colours will always take my breath away but the wonder was short lived as I was too concerned about IF, she walked forward until she beside the railing overlooking the city.

"How long has it been since you arrived here? In Gamindustri?" She asked, looking out over the edge as I walked up behind her.

"About a month now I guess, give or take a few days" I replied, this clearly wasn't the topic she wanted to talk about but I wasn't going to rush her. Mainly because if she started crying I don't know how to comfort a crying girl, I wasn't taught that by my master when she was teaching me to hunt dragons.

"Do you..." She trailed off, fidgeting a bit and still not looking my way.

"Do I what?" I was confused and worried, IF had always struck me as the forward type, the take charge and always confident type not this, this seemed like the polar opposite to what I thought she was like.

Suddenly she turned around, her cheeks and nose were heavily flushed and the tips of her ears were red.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" She asked, her voice sounded weak and about to break.

"Ah um... Y yeah I suppose so..." I was to put it bluntly taken off guard by the question. "Why what's up?"

"W well... I I found someone who I've fallen in love with..." She trailed off, refusing to meet my eyes as she fiddled with her hair.

I should of been happy for her, I should of been so happy she found someone and wished her luck that the person she liked was gonna like her too but I was feeling terrible, it felt like the whole world had been torn from under me. I had only felt like this once before and that was the reason I wore my cape.

"Oh? Well I know you two will be perfect together, what's her name? maybe I know her." I said, it was a lie the happiness I was feeling but I wasn't going to ruin her happiness, I may be an asshole sometimes and I may be sarcastic but I am not someone who ruins other people's happiness because I was feeling sad.

"W well... HIS name is Fletcher..." She said.

"O oh..." I stammered.

It was like the world that had just fallen away from me had suddenly returned even more beautiful than ever. The flowers were shining, my heart was like the wings of a dragon. Loud and alive.

"U um... I if you don't want to answer now it's fine... I I can wait" She stammered, she started to walk past me but I reached out and took her hand stopping her.

"IF..." I couldn't hear anything but my heart beating, she looked at me, tears were in her eyes.

"She expects rejection, she expects you to love Iris or one of the other girls who have an advantage on her in every shape and form" Kar'zul suddenly cut through the noise "Tell her the truth, tell her your feelings. This is the most important decision in your life Fletcher"

His words were true. If I rejected her she would fall into depression, I would hate myself for lying just because I'm awkward. I needed to tell her my feelings, I just had to.

"IF..." I repeated, gently holding her hand "I I love you t too" I did it. I said it. My heart had stopped beating now, my brain was filled with random thoughts and a elder dragon. I had never been so nervous in my life, fighting dragons and facing death every day was a lot easier than this. If this went south I will never ask someone out again, I could not go through this tension and fear ever again.

She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, I could feel her tears on the skin of my neck as she cried softly with her head buried between my neck and shoulder. Unsure of what to do I gently wrapped my arms around her too and hugged her back.

"Congratulations Fletcher" Kar'zul commented but I could barely hear him.

"W We'd best get back to the basilacom, they will worry soon" IF said reluctantly pulling away from me while wiping her eyes.

"Yeah, that might be best" I replied, a soft smile dancing it's way across my face. As we walked towards the elevator I felt IF take my hand, rather timidly like she couldn't believe this was real, taking her hand firmly I looked at her and smiled properly.

"I can hardly believe this is happening, that you felt the same way" She said, almost whispering the last part

"The same, I couldn't believe that you loved me" I replied when suddenly the quiet moment was broken by a almighty cheer and confetti falling.

"Congratulations!" I heard voices cry out as we both turned, I could feel the heat rise to my face as I took in Neptune, the Tsundere twins, Blanc and White heart, the Vert's, Iris (Who was looking really smug), Histoire and Histy.

"Oh no..." I muttered softly as the group of girls began rushing towards the to of us, already shouting praises and congratulations.

"You knew didn't you Kar'zul" I managed to think before the girls reached us.

"Yup, good luck with the questions I'm going to take a nap" He replied with a chuckle. I really hate that dragon sometimes.


	9. Chapter 9

Hello It's the Author here! I'm so grateful for the support everyone has been giving me so far, just simple private messages and reviews have been so helpful in keeping me motivated and invested in writing.

To answer a popular question that has been popping up in messages and once in a review (Courtesy of Forte De Tu) The CPU's in my story have in a sense grown up and naturally taken their goddess forms as their adult forms, I know there will probably be some die hard Neptunia fan who will give me a lecture about how they don't age but that's what I found would best fit my story, it also saves me from writing more filler with everyone transforming, deforming etc. Also I know there is already a cannon version of an adult Neptune but I thought it would be better if they simply took on their goddess forms as adult Neptune, if I am remembering correctly, isn't a CPU so there's another reason.

Now onto a bit of a bad point I will have to go back to college within a couple days so this can affect the frequency of the chapters I post up but I shall try to still post a chapter once a day or once every two days. At a very minimum I'll post one chapter per week but I doubt it'll come to that.

Anyway once again thank you all so much for all your support and help, remember:

Any and all constructive criticism is valuable as I am still new at writing,

Your reviews and private messages telling me your thoughts on my story and how to improve it are like gold to me and you are all beautiful people who somehow like my story. We couldn't of gotten to chapter nine without the support from you guys so give yourself a pat on the back for that.

Talk again soon!

WretchedSpectre

* * *

"You two finally got together!" Neptune shouted happily grabbing IF and holding her in a hug that looked like it could shatter a tree trunk, suddenly I was lifted off my feet as well and my spine was seemingly placed under the same amount of pressure.

"Finally, it took you two way too long to finally hook up" I heard Iris giggle into my ear before she finally let me go, my spine burning from the force of the hug.

"Jeez she wouldn't stop coming to me for advice" I heard one of the Vert's chuckle while White heart laughed.

"She wouldn't stop bloody talking about you when she wasn't around you" White heart said, slapping me on the back, almost sending me flying.

"I hope your relationship brings you good fortune" Histy piped up, her little voice almost lost in the noise the other girls were making, I only really noticed how quiet she really was when so many others were giving their congratulations.

"W well thank you for your praise and congratulations but could you lay off my spine? I think it's going to break if put anymore pressure" I smiled good naturedly but I was speaking the truth, it felt like it was gonna snap in a second.

"Right that may be best, come let us head up into the basilacom, we have much to discuss not just your new relationship with IF" Histoire called everyone over to the elevators and we had to split into two separate group as their wasn't enough space for us all to fit in one elevator, my group consisted of me (obviously), IF (obviously again), Iris, Neptune and Histoire. It wasn't a tight squeeze but it wasn't a comfortable either, Neptune was pressed against Iris which I found immensely funny with all the suggestions that Neptune was coming onto Iris now while IF ended up pressed against me which had Iris shouting at us to get a room, the reason we were pressed against each other was because Histoire and her bloody book she _has_ to sit on was taking up all the space.

"Couldn't you just fly up to the basilacom?" I asked her during the ride up, a bit annoyed but not complaining.

"No actually, this book can only hover a bit off the ground, only Histy can officially fly around on her book" Histoire replied, her voice was neutral but I bet she was a little happy with taking up all the space.

When we eventually arrived in the basilacom we nearly fell over each other to get some personal space although im pretty sure Iris was enjoyed being close to Neptune though I don't think the feeling was mutual.

"We have a serious problem" Histoire said, floating up a couple of stairs towards a table the others girls were around, the joking, happy mood that existed before was gone, as we neared the table me and IF took up spaces beside each other while Histy and Histoire took the last few free spaces.

"I'm glad all of you are here for this as if this goes wrong the entire city could be wiped out in the space of a day" Histoire started ominously

"Good way to start the briefing" I muttered, getting rewarded by a sharp jab by IF's elbow

"We have had reports of two fast moving dragons flying around the city's safe zone, so far the standard defences have been able to keep them at bay but it looks like they are preparing to attack us hard and I don't think we are able to take the two of them out quickly without either the loss of the majority of the population or the loss of the city entirely" Histoire continued gravely, stunning the room into silence.

"Where are they located now?" I asked, this was serious if she thinks those two dragons could level a city like this with the CPU's here also then I needed to remove them.

"Currently they are located in the forest, not too far from where you took down the golden dragon" Histoire responded "If you take a few of the oth-"

"No way, I'll go by myself" I cut in firmly.

Silence greeted my words as all of the girls looked at me, seemingly hardly able to understand before an explosion of voices and shouting occurred.

"No way!"

"You can't!"

"BE QUIET!" Histoire thundered, causing all the girls to clam up and look slightly intimidated by the sudden shouting.

"Fletcher you cannot go by yourself, what happens if something goes wrong?" Histoire said, concern evident in her voice.

"Then you prepare for the dragons, I've already taught the girls how to kill dragons and anyway" I replied, looking around the group "My tactics to remove dragons requires stealth and going with multiple people shall only result in more noise and a higher chance of something going wrong. You needed a dragon hunter who is the best at his job, well here you go, I do this kind of thing daily"

Again this was greeted by silence before Iris of all people spoke up.

"When I went to his dimension I spent time looking through all the hunters I was shown who were the best hunters and there were some who seemed like the best choice required teams of skilled hunters like them while Fletcher could do hunts by himself" She said, "I chose the best possible person for the job"

"Iris is right, the other hunters required groups of five or six equally skilled hunters with them and even then they could still make mistakes, fatal mistakes. I can do these mission without anyone else as I know the most about dragons, their strengths and weaknesses" I continued, pushing my point across. There was a moment of silence before Histoire finally spoke up.

"Fine I shall allow you to go by yourself but we will stay in contact via use of a phone" Histoire agreed, reluctantly nodding her head. The other girls still looked like they had something to say about this but stayed quiet.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about these dragons before I go?" I asked Histoire, it was hard not to meet the eyes of any of these girls especially IF because if I did I knew they would find a way to convince me to let them come along and I didn't want to risk losing one of them and this city needed all the defence it could get.

"No but why must you go now? Surely there is no advantage to heading of now" Histy asked confused.

"Time, if I head off now it'll give me more time to track these dragons down and prepare the supplies I need to weaken them enough that I can take them out, also you said they are preparing for an attack, these hunts could take months so I need to start now than later" I replied, pushing off the table and giving a short salute (Pressing my fist against my right shoulder) before I left towards the lift doors.

"Don't worry about me you girls" I called over my shoulder as I walked, knowing the moment I got in that elevator they would start arguing and making threats to tag along without Histoire's blessing "I know what I'm doing and I'll be back before you know it"

"You know this could horribly wrong right?" Kar'zul said as I began to strap my armour and gear on. My bow had began to be covered in dust since arriving here as I haven't had much of a chance to use it as often as I would of liked.

"Yeah I know but that's why I must go. I can't risk the girls getting hurt" I replied, checking the feathers on the arrows that they are still in good condition, deciding that they are I pushed them back into the quiver.

"I guess so" Kar'zul replied "You seem confident enough about this"

"Yeah I guess so, it is basically my day job" I commented before strapping my sword and dagger sheaths on my back.

"You hunted dragons that often?" Kar'zul enquired, he didn't sound offended but what I've learnt from talking to him so far he can easily hide his true emotions and intentions

"Yes I did, sorry if that offends you" I replied

"No do not worry young one it has not offended me" Kar'zul replied as I sheathed both my sword and my broken blade. Walking out of the room I made sure to pick up a month long supply of food and water, I know how to cook food so I can eat in the wild but it's better to avoid eating stuff you find in the wild unless it's absolutely necessary.

Stepping out onto the reception of the basilacom I saw IF standing just inside the door frame, she had a backpack similar to my own beside her on the floor, nearing her I could tell I wasn't going to win this argument.

"I'm coming with you" She stated simply, her tone of voice was firm and left no room for argument. It was almost intimidating really how serious she was about this.

"I guess nothing I say or do will make you stay here?" I asked, I was going to let her come along but I had to ask to make sure she was willing to come on this dangerous journey.

"No, I just found you and I am not letting you walk out. So you can either let me walk with you or you'll have me five steps behind you" She replied, a soft smile on her face. She must already knew she had won this arguement and she wasn't going to back down. I must admit she looked pretty cute with a half cocky smile on her face, her green eyes seemed to shine at the prospect of an adventure.

"Fine then I guess I'll have to let you walk with me then" I returned the smile walking outside as she followed behind, quickly catching up and matching my pace.

"So I assume you have a plan to make this less dangerous that throwing ourselves at them and hoping for the best?" IF asked, looking at the forest as we neared it step by step.

"Yeah I do, I'll tell you step by step." I replied, it was nice to finally hunt with someone else again, this time I would not let someone else I cared for die. Not again.


	10. Chapter 10

It had been a month since we had left the city, a month spent simply tracking the twin dragons but we finally had their trail and now it was time to create a poison to weaken and cripple them. The dragons were fast and agile, using their wings to cross great distances with ease, only stopping for hunting and sleep so during the time they hunt we have to inject the poison into the animal they are eating to get the poison to flow in their systems, this was a dangerous point as if we messed up we could either alert the dragons to our presence or they would reject the meal.

"Hold" I whispered, holding a gloved hand up to get IF to stop. She was afraid, I could smell it and sense it thanks to Kar'zul's power but it was to be expected, this could go wrong in a variety of ways and we had no cover round here to hide behind if it did go wrong.

Creeping forward I neared the first dragon as it was tearing into the side of what looked like a giant sloth, thankfully the sloth was already dead or this could get messy. I knew IF could see the area around me so if the other dragon arrived I'm sure she would notify me but I didn't have time to concentrate on what she is doing, this was going to take all of my concentration. Gently pulling out my long bow I slowly slipped the bow string on, keeping both eyes on the dragon, watching for any difference in movement but thankfully there was none. Checking my quiver I pulled open a bottle beside it and looked in to see how much poison I had left.

"Not much left.. I'll need to make more after this" I thought to myself, one arrow per dragon could cripple them if the poison was potent enough but I'm unsure of what dimension jumping would of done to the poison whether it made it stronger or weaker, hell it could of just made it into sticky water at this point. Gently I pulled an arrow out of the quiver and gently poured some of the sticky liquid onto the arrow head, it wasn't sticky enough that it could stick to a wall and stay there and that's a good thing, if it was I'd need a brush to help scoop it out. Slowly I stood up, drawing the string back, my bow had seen years of use and I had kept it in well enough shape that it made no sound as I pulled back the string, suddenly I released the string letting the arrow fly towards the skin of the sloth, it hit it's mark perfectly but the dragon stopped eating.

It's beady eyes scanning the environment, freezing up I did not move a muscle, dragon eyes relied on movement to keep their prey in focus and this one was no different, anything that wasn't moving would be like a blur to the dragon combining that with my dark clothing there was little chance that the dragon could see me, slowly it lowered its head and continued devouring the sloth as I slowly crouched and snuck away.

Returning to the camp site I watched, amused as IF sat down completely out of breath.

"Why are you so tired? I did all the hard work" I joked, smiling as she put on a face of mock irritation.

"Because I've been doing all the cooking, all the tracking, all the packing and I was holding my breath when you did your 'hard work'" She sighed before grinning herself and raising her hands in happiness "That's one done, shall we get on with the other?"

"No need, if one of those dragons lags behind I'm sure the other will stop and won't leave it behind" I unstrung my bow before sitting down also. "It'll sleep just as much as the other dragon so we can remove them quickly, unless it leaves it behind which if so it'll mean that dragon will be easy to remove then we just have to track the one that went on ahead"

We sat down together for a while, the luscious forest's greenery swaying softly in the cool summer breeze, it was beautiful really. The sun was shining between a small hole in the canopy of leaves illuminating the spot where we sat, birds were softly singing their songs while squirrels darted from branch to branch, collecting various nuts and berries while a wild cat gently snored in its midday nap. I felt IF's head gently come to rest on my shoulder which brought a soft smile to my face, we had both grown closer of the time we had spent tracking the dragons, I must admit it was awkward at first, we both were unsure of each other's borders and how far we each were comfortable in going but now we are fine, we cuddle, snuggle and we sometimes kiss, but not often. I didn't mind and I don't think IF did either but I wasn't going to push her and I doubt she was going to try and push either.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" I asked her softly, as I had found out to my pleasure and dismay IF was a big fan of both coffee and tea, often saying it was only thing that kept her going on her treks through the wild.

"Mm could I have a coffee and get to rest like this after?" She smiled cheekily, she was teasing and funny and I loved her for it.

Gently ruffling her hair, which was rewarded with a indignant "Hey!" from her, I got up and moved over to the small fire place she had made when we set up camp, IF was a master at setting up camp fires, gathering the correct wood that wouldn't create any smoke. This did mean that cooking food and making drinks took a little longer than usual but that meant we could stay closer to the dragons but not too close but close enough that we can track them quick enough. Putting the kettle on a grating just above the fire I picked up her small china cup and poured a bit of the coffee powder, IF brought, into the cup, I wasn't much of a master of brewing coffee but I was apparently good enough that she enjoyed it so I wasn't complaining.

Looking up from across the slow boiling kettle I watched in amusement as IF went about fixing her hair after I ruffled.

"Maybe getting taken into this dimension really wasn't that bad" I thought to myself

"Maybe so, from what it sounds like you were only being held back in your dimension" Kar'zul spoke up, he spends a lot of his time sleeping if nothing happens but when he's awake he can be useful in many ways, not just talking to me as the only male here.

"Hmm I guess so" I replied, I had told him he can look through my memories if he wants something to do but he always declines telling me that it is rude to look into anothers past so I had to tell him about my past and he took my word for it.

"Especially with people constantly seeking you out because of your skill for both wanting to be your apprentice and gain some form of fame and recognition from being with you in some form of relationship" He continued, his gruff and deep voice laced with mirth at the thought.

"Oh Ha ha. I'm sure an elder dragon like you had other dragons going for you too" I replied, leaning back and enjoying sitting in the sun.

"It is true I was a popular choice for female dragons" Kar'zul replied, I could often see him when I closed my eyes guess another side affect of bonding with a dragons soul is being able to visualize them, currently he was sitting on a open field, the sun beaming down on his golden scales.

"So when were you going to tell me about the whole visualizing you when I concentrate or close my eyes?" I asked him, his head turned and I could see he had a toothy grin on his face

"Was gonna wait till all the excitement died down but from what it looked like it came faster than expected" He replied, amusement in his voice.

Suddenly a high pitched whistling sound broke my concentration and I looked down towards the kettle, carefully picking it up and pouring the hot water into the cup, filling the cup with a sweet aroma and blackish brown liquid. Picking up the little cup I walked around the fire and bent down to give it to IF, who accepted it with a smile.

"Thank you Fletcher" She said, sipping the coffee as I stamped out the fire. "You could pour the water on the fire to get rid of it you know"

"Ah but this keeps me on my toes" I replied, I liked using my messed up sense of logic against her, it always messed with her in one way or the other.

"Right... well when do you think we should go see if that dragon had left?" IF asked, taking another sip.

"After you've finished your drink I guess, be a better time than any I guess" I responded, stretching as I gathered my weapons in case we are found out.

"What... That means I won't get to rest my head on your shoulder again..." IF sounded rather gutted by this so I bent down and kissed her forehead rewarding myself with her cheeks blushing a bit.

"When we get back you can rest on me then." I smiled as she quickly finished up her drink before getting up and following behind me as we walked back towards where we last saw the dragon. IF never picked up weapons so it confused me for a while until when we were under attack by a small pack of what she called dogoos. And what was called a "small pack" in this dimension was called an "army" in my dimensions, there were hundreds of the little buggers and I thought I'd have to tell IF to run while I held them off so she could escape only to find she was fighting with some blades that had been concealed under the long sleeves of her trench coat. It took a while to remove the army of slimy dogoos but when it was done I had to praise her on her skill in fighting, she moved like the wind, jumping from target to target slashing and stabbing as she went, it made my job a hell of a lot easier.

When we reached the site of the previous dragon I stopped in my tracks suddenly, something was wrong. I felt IF bump into me and was confused why I suddenly stopped before she looked past me and saw what had shocked me.

The dragon's corpse.

Moving closer I could see that from the top of the dragon had been burnt away leaving only a skeleton head.

"What happened..." I wondered aloud, IF was close behind me, I've grown to know when she is on edge and ready to leap into combat as her hands get slightly twitchy and the half cocky smile on her face disappears and is replaced with a steel like frown,

"It seem like your poison has defiantly been affected by the dimension jump" I heard Kar'zul comment, his voice invoked concern and a sense of tension. Walking closer I could see that the side of the dragon's skin before it turned into bones was almost made of what looked like... sticky water.

"It must of been quick, we hadn't left for more than an hour. It couldn't of hurt" I muttered, looking for any other signs my sense's working overtime. The only thing I could make out was the arrow shaft, not the broad head arrow tip.

"We should get out of here, the other could return any time so-" IF started before a loud roar could be heard and what sounded like a hurricane.

"Aw crap..." I whined before the other dragon appeared, slamming through the tree tops, while the other deceased dragon had silver blue scales (Now kinda dull for obvious reasons) this dragons scales were crimson red, and it's eyes matched the colours of it's scales. It looked from the deceased corpse of the dragon and towards us, it's eyes narrowing into slits before it let out and almighty roar, it's six foot long fangs gleaming in the sunlight as roared in anger.

"A ripper, this will be a hard fight" I heard Kar'zul say, his voice invoking concern.

"Any tips?" I thought quickly, pulling my sword out and getting ready to fight.

"Use your greater agility to avoid it's claws, it'll shred you in a second if you get caught" He replied, he was always so calm in when it came to serious situations.

"So... um any plans?" IF asked as the dragon finished it's roar and locked eyes with us.

"I distract it, you call the girls to fly over and give us a hand. By the end of this hopefully I'll still be alive by the time this ends" I told her pulling out my sword and getting ready to run.

"Is that it!?" She cried out, I could hear the disapproval and concern in her voice.

"Yeah that's it! You need to call them now while I do this!" I shouted over my shoulder as I ran off, catching the dragon's attention. It roared and charged after me, it's claws slashing and tearing apart anything in its path.

"How long would you say it would take those girls to get here!" I shouted to Kar'zul once I was out of ear shot of IF.

"Depending on how fast they go." He replied, his voice was stupidly calm about this

"How about rushing to save a friend who is being chased by a dragon!?" I shouted back, anger filling my systems as I slid under a low handing tree branch and continued running for my life as the branch was destroyed by the rampaging dragon.

"well if you say that then... I'm going to have to say five to ten minutes" He replied,

"Oh you don't know how much I hate you and your dry humor!" I shouted as I continued running, my legs feeling like they were on fire but I dare not stop.

"I know, oh and by the way something I forgot to tell you, that dragon is gaining on you" He replied, "I'm gonna push some more of my power into your legs but you better keep running or you'll look like meat slices"

God I hate dragons so much, their constant calmness about them when they are in danger and there dry, sarcastic humor really starts to grate on me... or did he just pick up that humor from me after all of my conversations with him? I'm gonna have to have words him when this is all done.

* * *

Heya it's the author again!

Things are starting to heat up eh? Sorry in advance if the chapters that are coming out are of a lower quality that the previous one's, still not completely used to college times again, that and the usual harassment makes it difficult to keep on the same thought process. I'll look towards posting a chapter on Tuesday's, Wednesdays Fridays and possibly one chapter during the weekends if I'm not free. Hopefully that'll keep you interested in my story.

I hope you are all well. Ciao!

WretchedSpectre


	11. Chapter 11

It had been more than ten minutes. Even with the power Kar'zul had been pumping into my legs it felt like I was getting nowhere fast, the dragon had been tearing its way through the trees and undergrowth, it's claws tearing everything apart easily as it chased after the annoying little hunter who had killed it's buddy.

"Kar'zul! Any help yet?" I shouted, vaulting over a tree root before sliding under a few low hanging vines already heaving the dragon slammed through the root and nearing the vines quickly.

"Is that dragon still chasing you?" Kar'zul replied.

"Well yeah!" I shouted back.

"Then no." He chuckled.

"You are such a prat!" I shouted back, I could barely breathe I've been running for my life. It had felt like days when it had only been ten minutes. Funny how running for your life for ten minutes makes it feel like days, real funny isn't it.

"It is hardly my fault that this dragon is wanting to kill you for killing it's friend!" Kar'zul shouted back, his voice ringing through my head.

"Dude you're a bloody dragon mind your voice!" I shouted, just about hearing my feet hitting the floor of the dark forest.

"My apologies but with all the shouting coming from you I thought I should raise my voice to get your mind back onto the task at hand, of you running from the dragon" He replied softly, it felt like my ears were bleeding.

"It's kinda hard to forget about the task" I replied, I had learnt a very important lesson today. Don't get into a shouting contest with a dragon.

Coming up to a drop in the between the forest and a small canyon I leapt over the edge before sliding down the rest of the drop, the mud beneath my boots making it easy to slide. And easy to fall. Suddenly my feet slipped from under me and I fell on my back, a sharp rock digging into my back suddenly making me cry out in pain, my head hit the muddy floor as I continued to slide down giving me a perfect view of the dragon jumping over the edge to and start tumbling down the edge with me, it's roar's sometimes being interrupted by sudden high pitched roars as it apparently snapped it's wings under its body.

As I came to a stop I scrambled onto my feet and continued running, hearing the dragon come to an almighty _crash!_ but seemed to be even more pissed off now and was already chasing after me.

"This thing is way to persistent" I muttered, vaulting over a small pile of rocks in my way and continuing my marathon sprint, the dragon walking over the pile of rocks and continuing its chase, black blood leaving a trail behind it.

"You would think it would of given up after what's happened to its wings" Kar'zul mused "I'll give it that, it's persistent"

Suddenly I heard a sharp cry from behind and looked back to see Blanc and White heart slamming their hammers into the dragons head almost flipping the dragon over with the force of the hammers.

"Looks like the cavalry's here" I breathed with a sigh of relief coming to a halt

"I have the sudden urge to hit something..." Kar'zul muttered, confusing me slightly but I pushed that out of my head as I watched the girls descend on the dragon. I could see a sudden flash of green as both of the Vert's slammed their spears into the dragon's side, I could see the force from the distance I was at because the dragon was lifted onto its side, a roar emanating from its already beaten form. Turning my head I decided to not watch the dragon get turned into thin slices.

"Glad you are okay" I heard Neptune say after a while, turning round I could faintly see the dragon's corpse in the distance before focusing back on Neptune, her face had a bit of dragon blood on it.

"Yeah so am I" I chuckled before turning away to cough, my throat felt like the canyon we were in, dry and filled with rocks.

"Heh need a drink?" Neptune giggled, apparently finding my pain funny.

"Yeah I do you sadist, just don't have my bottle on me" I managed before turning back to her "You've got blood on your face by the way" Walking by her as she squealed in disgust I walked towards the corpse of the dragon, calling it thin slices wouldn't be a inaccurate term for how it looked.

"This is why you need more than a two man team dummy" Blanc said, walking over and punching my shoulder.

"Well it wouldn't have came to this if my usual method's weren't changed by my poison being turned into some fast acting acid or something" I replied, it was funny as she had to reach up to punch my shoulder

"If you had that why didn't you use that on the dragon?" She asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"It's hard to fire a bow on the run, ever thought of that?" I replied sarcastically before I felt something slam into my back, pushing me forward a few steps. Looking round I could see a teary eyed, pissed off IF holding me.

"H heya..." I managed to say, I knew this was going to be the lecture of my life, she had began lecturing me on my lifestyle in the wild and a lot of things as I didn't do things the 'official' way like she does.

"Do you know how worried I was!" She shouted, it was hard to read her emotions due to the amount of them going through her.

"Um... no?" I tried to smile but the look on her face silenced any form of humour coming up in my system. I could see her going into lecture mode and I knew this was going to be evening when she was done.

"Do you finally understand!?" IF shouted, her hands were balled up into fists by her side, her face had become flushed by the time she had finished. We had been walking back to the city with the girls going on ahead to clear the path. Suddenly I wished I could fly like them, my ears were hurting even more than when Kar'zul had shouted into them.

"Yes mum..." I managed to say, my emotions were flat lined right now.

"Good now you are going to get cleaned so go!" She shouted, making me run for the basilacom, I had been scared before, fighting dragons are scary, running even scarier but IF... She took the crown as most scariest being there is. She has an extra ordinary amount of energy when she was mad. To sum it up she was pissed off that I left without her, she was afraid I had died and was angry I was so messy now.

"She's like a dragon herself" I heard Kar'zul mutter, even he was intimidated.

"Yeah..." I replied, stripping quickly and getting into the only male shower.

"Are you sure you haven't gotten into a relationship with a hell dragon?" he asked, his voice sounding small and fragile. He had started calling her a hell dragon after we witnessed IF diving headlong into battle with a few plant like monsters who had managed to grab me and were about to eat me. I could of gotten out given a few more seconds but IF was apparently faster.

"Now... now I'm not too sure" I muttered, feeling the water hit my skin, it felt like heaven had returned to this earth, hot water on overworked muscles.

"You know come tomorrow you are going to be hurting all over right?" Kar'zul asked, his confidence slowly returning after the lecture.

"Oh yeah I know, I also know I need to get IF a gift to make up for what happened" I replied, turning off the water tap and stepping out to get dried up.

"She's not gonna let you wear your normal clothing you wear when you go out" Kar'zul said making me freeze up. My normal clothing was my armour, I had refused to go out in casual clothing due to the feeling of weakness I get when I am not wearing my armour.

"Crap... I can't really wear my weapons either due to the fact they are dirty also and it'll take a few days to clean them to her level of perfection. I loved IF with all my heart.. but she has a few things she is adamant on, one of them being things being clean. When we were in the wild on a mission she wouldn't mind but the moment we were in the city she insisted I wore respectable clothing.

Reaching my room I got changed quickly, slipping into some night clothing and falling face first into my pillow, I would chose clothing and the rest tomorrow. Right now, sleep took priority.

By the time tomorrow came I hated myself for having to pry myself from my bed. It felt glorious compared to the rough wet floor of the forest. Standing up I looked around to see a pile of clothing on a chair in my room with a note on top of them.

"Meet me at the fountain at 11:00 sharp. Me and the girls are going to go shopping and you are coming, no excuses. I know you have a... lack of public clothing beside your now dirty armour so I decided to get you some, the lady was very happy I brought so much clothing for you that she gave me a discount if I passed on her thanks to you for saving the city and her grandson. So now you are obliged to wear the clothing. Pick whatever you think is best and meet us at the fountain. Better hurry up silly. Love IF" I read. This was not going to be good.

Reaching down I pulled out three separate bags of clothing, one of them came with a charcoal black trench coat and high leather boots, one of them was more casual and welcoming so in other words a blue jumper and some bright clothing and the last was a full on suit, complete with a bow tie and vest.

"IF... You evil little girl" I growled through clenched teeth before looking at the time, it was 10:30. God dammit today just isn't my day...

* * *

This chapters a bit shorter than the last as I want to get all that happened on the day in one chapter, it's going to be a fun filled adventure for Fletcher and there will hopefully be parts that shall make you laugh at his misfortune. Have a good day / night everyone who is reading this still. Thanks again for the support!

WretchedSpectre


	12. Chapter 12

"You'd best decide quickly" Kar'zul warned "It'll take fifteen minutes to simply get to the fountain without rushing"

My thoughts were racing, almost too fast to comprehend really. I couldn't decide on what to wear... Do I go casual with the dark colours or the brighter ones? Do I get in the suit and be smart?

"You have ten minutes left before you need to rush" Kar'zul piped up, he was clearly teasing and it wasn't valued at this current moment.

"Shut it!" I shouted, still unable to decide what to wear.

"Just trying to help" He muttered.

"If you want to help; help me decide on what to wear!" I shouted back, my thoughts still a mess.

"Fine fine" He chuckled slightly before going quiet for a bit "Wear the suit"

"Why?" I shouted confused.

"Well it looks smart and you'll be going into the public so you are going to want to look your best" Kar'zul replied "You'll also be able to tease the hell dragon known as IF as she seems to find it hard to look at you and not blush when you've combed that sorry state of what you call hair"

Rushing into the bathroom I grabbed a comb and began to pull it through my hair, it was shaggy most of the time due to my disinterest in its look but if what Kar'zul said was true then it'll be the best way to get back at her for this. Dabbing my fingers into a soft gel I used it to straighten my hair together so it looks a bit better than what it was like before.

"I'd say shave that beard you've got but what you've got on your chin would be better classed as sandpaper than a beard" Kar'zul continued "So it's best to quickly throw on that suit"

Running back into my bedroom I tore the suit out of the bag it was in and I began to change into it, there were times I was really happy I had Kar'zul with me.

"Anything else partner?" I asked, finally in the suit and straightening a few bits out. I must admit I looked rather well in a suit, it wasn't tight so it wasn't sticking to my body but it wasn't loose either. It was just perfect.

"I'd say just slap a bit of that wiffy stuff you humans call deodorant then you are golden" I could hear the approval in his tone of voice, it probably wasn't just about how I looked but I wasn't going to pry.

"Golden like your scales?" I chuckled, spraying a bit of deodorant on myself.

"Nothing could be like my scales" He laughed "Now you need to go, you have some time before you need to rush so let's go now"

"Gotcha" I replied, heading towards the door "Well here goes nothing"

To say walking to the assigned point was difficult would be wrong, to say I caught a bit of attention would be a bit tepid, an accurate sentence would be that I caught a hell of a lot of attention especially just standing at the fountain.

"Well this was a bad idea" I muttered to myself.

"Ah what do you mean? You are the centre of attention!" Kar'zul commented, he sounded happy.

"Well I don't like being the centre of attention..." I pouted.

"Well I do, it is glorious to be praised for how your scales shine like the all the gold in this world!" Kar'zul laughed, I could see him raising his wings in triumph. I must admit his golden scales shone beautifully with his own little sun bearing down on him.

"Well I don't have scales and I'm taken" I muttered glumly, sometimes just sometimes I envy dragons.

"Look to the front, your bride arrives" He commented.

"She's not my br-" I started before trailing off.

The girls had definitely arrived, they were all beautiful in their own ways. Neptune, Vert, Green Heart and Iris all wore a dress of some form, nothing revealing which was a hell of a shock for Iris not wearing something revealing, while the Blanc's, IF and Compa were wearing more casual clothing though a bit more refined than usual, Compa's usual fluffy top was changed, now she wore some shorts and a loose fitting top with a heart on the front. Blanc and White Heart were wearing clothing that was both similar and different, the one I called Blanc was wearing a small hat and a overcoat, its white and red patterns appealing to the eye while White Heart wore a jacket with false fur lining the edges but IF caught my eye again like she did when I first saw her, her blue trench coat had been replaced with a white variant of it, her usual bandolier of pockets were gone and the green bow in her hair was replaced with a bright blue bow instead, contrasting with her trench coat and underclothing.

"See what I mean when I said she can't take it when you smarten up?" Kar'zul commented, as IF's face become heavily flushed and took a sudden interest in the shops and her shoes as they neared.

"Oh this will be fun." I smiled, sometimes I really have to hand it to that dragon, when he was right he was right.

"Ah Fletcher, I was told you might be joining us today" Vert said, a bit of humour in her eyes as she took in the clothing I was wearing "You look... different."

"Yes I decided to freshen up" I replied, her tone of voice was still covered in honey with a pinch of salt.

"She's jealous" Kar'zul mused, he was an expert on emotions and people's intentions.

"How so?" I thought while greeting the girls in turn, making sure to greet them with 'Madam' and 'miss' like I was a butler, I did it for a joke but they seemed to approve of it.

"I think she was interested in you like IF but was unsure, now she regrets her hesitation" Kar'zul mused, I could almost feel the heat of his breath as he let out a soft chuckle "You'd best hope there are more men or you are going to be swamped even if you are dating someone"

"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that" I replied, greeting IF by taking her hand and kissing it softly, I didn't need improved senses to know her face was as red as a tomato.

"So now that greeting's are done shall we begin on our little shopping trip?" Iris said, she flicked her hair from her face and looked among the group sending a subtle wink towards Neptune who had taken a sudden interest in the walls.

"Yes sounds like a good idea, though you girls must lead on as I have no idea what the plan is" I replied, linking fingers with IF.

"Fine but you two love birds best not fall behind" Green heart giggled before taking the lead, the group following behind her.

"So is something happening between Iris and Neptune?" I whispered to IF

"Not really sure, it seems like when we were all squished together that may of sparked Iris's affection for Neptune a bit more than usual and that spark doesn't seem to be dying any time soon" IF replied with a small grin on her face.

"So um... what's the plan for the day?" I continued, voicing my concerns to the group, I hated surprises

"Wait and see" Iris called from the front

"Ok... Where are the Noire and Black heart?" I whispered to IF again, I didn't want to seem like a bother but it was unusual to see them away from the group.

"One of them got injured a bit when we attacked that dragon, so the other decided to not leave her side, looks like she can't bear the idea of losing her friend" IF replied grimly

"Is it serious?" I replied, I hoped not, those two were like two peas in a pod. Without the other I fear for the sanity of the remaining one.

"Oh no it was just a knock not a full on scratch but it did result in a broken limb as she was thrown through a few trees" IF calmed me down.

"Thank god..." I muttered, suddenly a thought occurred to me

"Hey Kar'zul why did you tell me to run? I had that super strength before" I thought, keeping my face smiling while I talked to him.

"Ah I wondered when you would ask that question" He replied, he sounded tired

"You sound sleepy" I commented.

"That is because I have been working hard to unlock more of my power to give to you" He replied, I could see him get up and give himself a short shake "That and I've been have a bit of a snooze"

"Ah fair enough, so what happened with the strength?" I asked him

"Well when we first bonded all locks on my power were released and I was able to show you what you could accomplish, but now the locks have returned and my power is sealed until I can break them" He answered "The power starts from the bottom of your body and rises from there, the only problem is due to a few... complications the power has been spread at random points so while most of your power is located in your legs you have small pockets of power in other points of your body"

"Such as?" I asked again, this was all news to me and if this meant I was gonna go off like a bomb I wanted as much time to run from the city before I went off

"One pocket of power is around your right eye, so that means your right eye has better vision than the other" He replied as the we kept on walking, the girls seemed to be looking for a particular shop "The rest are clustered between your chest and arms, not resulting in a massive surge of power but increased toughness"

"Well I guess that's good" I thought before our conversation was interrupted.

"We're here" I heard one of the Blanc's call out, her voice was disinterested but I could tell she was interested in our current location.

It wasn't a shop I could tell that the moment I looked at it. It was a cafe. By the looks of things it was a maid cafe.

"A maid cafe?" I asked confused, I would of thought they would be going clothing shopping and such not going for a drink.

"Yup, one of the best there is" Green heart replied, her tone seemed happier than usual, was this something she was interested in?

"Right..." I muttered, this kind of thing wasn't exactly how I swung, generally because maid cafe's meant various degrees of attention and I just hate attention in general.

"Both of Vert and Green heart wants to cosplay but they are very picky on what they wear and who they are cosplaying" IF whispered as we started to enter "Noire and Black heart usually cosplay, they try to keep it a secret but it usually doesn't work. All four of them in general want to cosplay maids"

"Never would of guessed" I replied, pushing open the doors as we neared them.

The cafe was like any normal cafe, it had bright walls and the floor looked like it was polished to the nth degree, I could easily see my own face in it, not sure if that's a good thing or not, paintings lined the walls all of them different flowers. All in all it was quite cute and welcoming, that was until someone came over to greet us.

"Welcome masters, may I take you all to your table?" A girl just a bit bigger than IF greeted us, curtseying. Her dress was smooth and frilly, blacks and whites making up the main part of the dress, a frilled head band was in her black hair, keeping it straight and tidy.

Following the maid we neared a rather large table, the wood on it was a light brown, it was shiny and smooth, sliding into the outside corner seat I could see that this place was popular, there was barely a single table open, women were sitting at various tables eating, drinking tea and coffee and generally having a good time. Maids flitting around taking orders and bringing the bill to others. The general atmosphere was one of happiness and content.

"So what will you be ordering misses?" The black haired girl asked, apparently she hadn't taken in the guy sitting down also, funny how I wear a suit, clean up and people can still completely miss me.

"I'll have a coffee and vanilla ice cream please" Both of the Vert and Green Heart said, almost in sync which was mildly scary, it seemed like everyone liked the sound of what they were having and they all ordered the same.

"And you... s sir?" It seemed like she finally noticed me and her voice instantly broke into a stutter, was she frightened of me? I guess I can be scary sometimes but I didn't think just sitting here would scare her. Looking up I offered her a smile to try and calm her down "Just a coffee would be fine thanks" I smiled but it seemed to do nothing but made her more frightened.

"O ok so eight coffee and vanilla ice creams and one coffee correct?" She stammered out.

"Yes that's accurate thank you" Vert replied, smiling softly at the girls reaction as she almost ran away.

"Am I that scary?" I asked worried, I didn't think I had that effect on people.

"No don't worry you weren't scaring her" IF was struggling to contain her laughter "She's probably in shock as the only guy in the world is sitting there in the shop she's working at"

Silence overtook the cafe, no one spoke, no one moved. I did not have to turn around to know that everyone was looking at me.

"I think you said that a bit too loud IF" I said, her face slowly becoming redder as she took in what she had done. Vert and Green heart were enjoying this, soft giggles escaping from behind gloved hands while Blanc and White Heart were smiling which I preferred to Vert's reaction as the smile had a touch of sympathy in it. Compa was oblivious as usual while Neptune and Iris were struggling to hold back laughter, their faces becoming flushed from the strain to hold back the laughter.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" Compa whispered.

The flood gates opened. Iris and Neptune broke out into laughter, Neptune's head hit the table with how much she was laughing while Iris leant back roaring with laughter, she was crying with how much she was crying.

"Nice to see the support from this table can be counted on one hand" I muttered, slightly grumpy about it but I wasn't going to be a spoil sport so I smiled along with them.

The black haired girl came out, her legs shaking as she almost ran towards a table where two girls sat when she suddenly slipped, her hands went out to steady herself which meant the tray went flying, everything seemed to go slow as I rushed out of my seat to catch the tray, as I caught the tray I could see the two glasses that held some ice-cream were still falling, I knew the pain of seeing ice-cream on the floor and I couldn't allow it to happen to another. Moving the tray under the cups they landed on the tray, wobbling slightly but otherwise undamaged, turning to the table she was going to give them to I bowed before setting the tray down so the girls could pick up the ice-cream that was theirs.

"My apologies for the wait my lady" I commented as they reached forward, don't ask me why I said that, it was probably because we were in a maid cafe and the fact I was wearing a suit. The two girls almost squealed their thanks before taking their ice-cream. Turning around to the little maid she looked at me in shock as I handed her the tray

"Careful where you step now, this floor seems like it has been waxed recently" I smiled as I sat down.

Silence continued before someone started clapping, that single applause changed into a roar as everyone was clapping, someone were standing clapping furiously at that single spectacle. Eventually it died down and people went about their day casting the odd glance towards our table.

"Excuse me miss but could you bring me the manager" Vert asked the black haired maid who nodded before dashing off, this time a lot more cautious how she moved.

"Vert you better not be putting me up to work in here" I grumbled, that was a onetime thing and I really wasn't looking forward to it if she was.

"Oh but I am, you need something to do and if this means more people will come to this shop then that'll benefit everyone" She replied.

"How will it benefit anyone else except the people who enter this shop?" I asked, still irritated about Vert's plan,

"Because this cafe is a charity cafe. It stays open through donations and all cash it earns is given to charity, to people whose lives have been changed with that money" Vert replied, a smile on her face, even though it was a convincing statement but it took more than that to get to me, I was on the verge of tipping.

"Right... gotcha" I muttered as a red hair woman comes bustling over to our table, her face full of worry.


	13. Chapter 13

"Are you the ones who called me misses and... sir?" Her voice was still filled with worry but also wonder that we are all here.

"My dear friend here has volunteered to serve here as a butler, he appears to be somewhat skilled at being a butler" Vert continued, winking at me.

"This is gonna go horribly wrong..." I muttered to myself. I couldn't believe that I was letting this go along.

"Ah it'll be fine I'm sure" IF whispered "Beside I think you look good in a suit"

That was a good incentive. That was a really good incentive.

"Yeah I volunteered, I had been told that the money earned here is given to charity so I wanted to help" I said, suddenly interested in the job.

"Oh really? Do you think you can make it tomorrow then?" She asked, her voice was hopeful and happy.

"Yeah I should be able to" I replied her, I wasn't really looking forward to working there but from that compliment from IF I couldn't say no. We both knew that and I wasn't about to argue.

"Ok thanks, I can't wait to help you out" I replied.

The rest of our stay at the cafe was uneventful, the coffee there was delicious and it helped me throughout our stay. Apparently saving some girls drinks and then serving it to them makes others very jealous and wanting me to serve them, this did end up in some of the customers being escorted out as they were making a rather large fuss about it all but that didn't stop us enjoying our time there.

"That was nice so where to next?" Blanc said, walking along side Iris

"I'm thinking now we go clothing shopping now" Neptune grinned, it seems like the mixture of both ice-cream and coffee was a terrible idea and now she was almost bouncing around.

"Yes that was the original plan but I wanted to quickly visit there first" Vert commented

"And get me a job there?" I said, I was still smiling bout the whole charade that occured during our stay.

"Shush you" Green Heart cut in, she had a smile on her face but I could tell she didn't want any arguing.

"Well let's go shall we? I need to pick out some cute clothing for Nep Nep and Iffy" Compa pipped up while she pushed the group on.

This was my first mistake, going clothing shopping with the girls. Some of them took too long deciding what to buy while the others were leaping at the opportunity to buy extra clothing, grabbing lots of shirts, dresses, socks etc. At one point the girls wanted to go underwear shopping and it took the effort of me and IF to stop them.

"I regret everything..." I whined standing outside a shop as the girls fussed over what to buy.

"Ah you are enjoying it really" Kar'zul commented, he sounded busy so I closed my eyes to see what he was doing more clearly, it looked like he was reading something.

"Are you... reading?" I asked, I could of made a joke but I was actually surprised to see him reading.

"Yes well you had read a few books before and I couldn't resist having a quick read" He looked up at me "Would you like me to stop?"

"No no I was just surprised, I said that you could look through my memories if you wanted" I replied

"I already told you my answer to that one" He replied, his nose being buried in the book again.

"You are the most stubborn dragon in the world" I muttered before hearing the door open and IF stumbling out, her face clearly said she had enough.

"Hey what's happening?" I asked walking over

"They are trying to get us matching clothing..." She managed to say, she was panting as I heard a soft thump against the glass window, looking around I could see Neptune's face pressed against the glass.

"H help... V Vert and Green Heart have gone shopping crazy..." she whined before she was pulled back into the shop her face one of terror at having to wear couple clothing.

"You know I've fought dragons, monsters beasts and bandits" I muttered watching Neptune dissapear into the depths of the shop, a silent scream on her lips. "But that... hell no."

Turning to walk away I felt IF tug at my hand.

"You need to help them... I don't even think Iris can last much longer" IF whispered.

Crap... Now I have to go save them lot.

"You so owe me for this." I replied, turning back to her and helping her sit down against a wall.

"Please be safe..." She whispered before pretending to passing out.

"I'll try keep my fashion sense safe" I replied, a smile spreading across my face.

"Heh that's a good idea" She replied.

Walking into the shop it was a mess, Iris and Neptune were strung up like chickens wearing the same tops, while Neptune was freaking out Iris looked... Happy? Both Blanc and White heart were busy fighting to remove tops they have been stuffed into but it looked like the clothing had different ideas, it stayed stuck to them while they got increasingly angrier. Compa was no-where to be seen but from a rather large pile of clothing on the floor it was safe to assume she was stuck underneath that.

"Ah a new player joins the game" a voice called from the shop.

Vert stepped out, she had definitely snapped into full couple clothing mode.

"Player seven joins the game" another voice called out from behind Vert, Green Heart stepped from behind her, she had also snapped.

"I've come to avenge the fallen" I replied, walking towards them.

"You and IF shall wear the same clothing!" They cried out charging forward. This day just go from bad to worse. Yesterday it was dragon hunting, today it is couple clothing obsessed CPU's. Could this get any worse? Probably.

Charging forward I ducked underneath Green Hearts outstretched hands and slid into the jumper aisle quickly grabbing at a hanger as Vert threw a top at me, catching it out of the air I quickly put the hanger in the top and hung it up, quickly throwing a pair of unmatched socks at her to distract her. Turning to a frightened store girl pulled her aside as Green Heart slammed into where she was stood, burying herself under various jackets.

"If you want to keep your sense of fashion sense hide wherever the manager is hiding" I warned her before moving over to a aisle of jumpers hanging up, shaking them off it I picked it up and began to batter the two psychopaths back who were slowly becoming more and more crazy.

"Wear it! Wear it! Wear it!" They began to scream constantly, becoming more and more animalistic and ferocious. I am never going shopping with those two ever again. If I have to do this every time I'd have to invest in a baton to keep them in check. Possibly with the addition of lightening to fry their primal senses.

"That's it!" I heard two voice call out, bloodlust deep in their tone and I knew Blanc and White Heart had finally gotten free and they were not happy. Turning around they were both standing there, their eyes seemed to glow a crimson red as a hammer began to materialise behind Blanc and an axe behind White Heart.

"Oh shit they are pissed..." I muttered before slowly inching out of the way of the two demons as they strode toward Vert and Green Heart who looked like they had snapped out of their clothing spree moment and were now terrified. Moving towards Iris and Neptune I almost had to force myself to untie them, Iris seems to have snapped and was leaning on Neptune, a look of pure bliss on her face as she leant on Neptune while Neptune on the other hand was shouting for help, her face blushing harder the more Iris leant against her.

"You uh... having a fun time there Neptune?" I laughed as I began working on the knot.

"Help me... She's really becoming clingy and all lovey dovey now!" Neptune cried out.

"What... No im not..." Iris whined as she wrapped her arms around Neptune the moment I got them free

"Fletchy help! I I don't know if I'm ready for a relationship like that..." Neptune was beginning to panic as she struggled to get away from Iris's vice like grip.

"Do you need an adult Neptune?" I asked, crouching down to look them both in the eyes

"Nooo don't take her away." Iris whined even more

"Yes! Yes I do!" Neptune shouted, hope filling her eyes

"Well you won't find one in me. Besides..." I laughed standing up "Iris is an adult and I'm sure she'll take good care of you"

Walking away I could hear the pleas from Neptune get drowned out by a happy Iris, Neptune's pleas of extra pudding growing fainter and fainter till I couldn't hear them anymore. That was because I was now outside sitting beside IF and enjoying this quiet moment with her, not because of what Iris might be doing to her but I wasn't going to poke my head around the corner to find out what she was doing.

Eventually they all came out from the shop, massive bags full of clothing under their arms.

"Learnt your lesson now Vert and Green Heart?" I asked, getting up with IF still half asleep on my arm as she got up too.

"Yes..." They both muttered apologetically.

"Good. I'd say we should head back to the basilacom. Drop those clothes off and relax for the rest of the day. Sound like a good idea?" I voiced to the group.

"Yeah sounds good" Blanc replied, already beginning to fly off, all the girls followed her except for Compa and Neptune. Neptune had a look of betrayal across her face as she stared at me.

"I'll make sure Compa gives you an extra large helping of pudding for your bravery in the face of immortal danger" I told her, Neptune's face brightening at the news as she shot off to catch up with the others.

"Jeez I'd better get buying the ingredients to make it then..." Compa muttered, a smile still on her face though "You two go back I'll meet you there" Turning she ran off in the opposite direction to us.

"Huh guess it's just you and me now IF" I shrugged, I didn't mind really it was nice to have some time alone with IF.

"Yeah guess a romantic walk for us then" She winked before reaching up and quickly kissing me on the cheek. "Lets go then hmm?"

"Sure thing M'lady" I gave her a short bow before taking her hand as we walked back towards the hectic place known as the basilacom.

My eyes cracked open slowly, the morning sun rising over the horizon it's pleasant colours a stark contrast to how I was feeling, now I have to go to work and I have a bad feeling this is going to go horribly wrong today.

"Hey I'm here" I called out as I knocked on the front door, it was before opening hours and there were few people around, opening the letter that was sent to me I reread the contents.

"Thank you for volunteering at our shop! We would like you to arrive at ten o'clock in the morning so we have enough time to brief you on what to do and get you an appropriate uniform. I should be there before you so just knock on the front door and I shall let you in."

Just as soon as I had finished rereading the letter I heard the door open and the red haired manager was standing there, a big grin plastered on her face.

"You came!" She cried out, she was way too happy

"Well I wasn't going to chicken out" I smiled before being let in.

"So I've been given a suit for you in particular, from a girl called IF? Do you know her?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah I know her, we are... close" I trailed off, knowing if I gave too much details she could freak out or something.

"Ah ok, well we need to get you into your suit and get you ready for your first day." The red haired lady called out practically running into the kitchen. I followed behind her, knowing my day was going to be a terrible one, one filled with people and a lot of unwanted attention.

I wasn't wrong, from the moment the doors opened the cafe was busy. Apparently news had travelled like wildfire that the only male was working at a maid cafe as a butler, who was ready to take your orders. So not all customers were there for food or drinks, some actually decided to try and get me to tell them stories about me and some were just perverted predators who "apparently" couldn't hold themselves back.

"Welcome m-" I started but cut off when I took in who it was. IF was standing there, a massive smile was on her face.

There was a momentary pause before I managed to get my voice back.

"W welcome miss, c can I take you to your table?" I stammered out, I could my face burning as IF just stood there, grinning.

"Of course you can Fletcher. I assume you'll be my butler for the day?" She laughed while she followed behind me.

"O of course miss" I replied, trying to avoid bringing attention to us "What would you like to order?"

"Hmm could I have a strawberry cocktail" IF winked at me "possibly a kiss too?"

"The drink I can definitely say a yes to miss" I replied, walking off.

Reaching the kitchen I wrote up on a notepad for a strawberry cocktail but before I even stepped away from the kitchen counter a strawberry cocktail was there.

"This was planned wasn't it?" I muttered.

"Maybe" The kitchen girl winked at me before continuing to prepare a dish.

Walking back to IF I set the drink down beside her she looked up at me, her signature smug grin on her face again.

"Ah my drink what abo-" She started but I lunged forward and kissed her suddenly, cutting her off.

The cafe went silent and I knew all eyes were on us but I didn't care, this was my revenge against her and the others. There was a collective scream of shock and horror from the patrons as I finished kissing IF.

"There is your kiss my beautiful girlfriend" I winked at her, gently brushing some of her hair out of her face "Is there anything else you want?"

"N no I'm fine" She replied, quietly drinking her cocktail, her face heavily flushed.

Standing up I walked into the kitchen to take my break as the patrons of the bar began to spread the news of what happened. Revenge is sweet, and revenge against my cute IF was even sweeter.


	14. Chapter 14

It had been a couple of weeks since I had joined the cafe, I had gotten used to the routine of waking up early so I can get changed without rushing and attending the cafe, ever since the news got out that I was dating IF the advances from other girls had suddenly stopped for some _mysterious_ reason.

Clambering out of my bed I was already halfway getting changed when I heard a knock at my door, cracking the door open I saw IF standing there.

"Heya Iffy, what's up?" I asked her, it was unusual for IF to be up this early.

"We've got a problem" She replied, her eyes were like steel so this had to be serious.

"Right let me get into something a bit more appropriate than a suit" I replied, as I moved away from the door she held it open.

"No time you need to come now" She almost ordered as she pulled open the door and dragged me out of the room towards the elevator.

"Could I at least get a weapon?" I whined, I wasn't used to her being this serious and I felt like a child in her vice-like grip.

"No because you'll take too long, I'll lend you one of mine" IF said as she successfully pulled me into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor, the elevator shooting away as if it could sense IF's urgency.

Standing up I straightened out the collar of my suit while IF fiddled with something, she turned around holding out her hand, in her hand was a black object.

"Here, you know how to use these right?" IF asked, her eyes had lost a bit of the steel they had in them before but they were still filled with worry and urgency.

"No I have never seen one in my life" I said taking it from her, "What is it some kind of switchblade or something?"

"No silly it's a gun, didn't the dimension you came from have guns?" IF sighed.

"Used to have guns, by the time I was born they were made obsolete and therefore were smelted down to make other useful items like swords" I replied, casting a appreciate eye over the design, it was smooth and fit my hand perfectly, not too big, not too small.

"The switch on the side is the safety, if you are going to shoot you pull it down and when you are in a place where firing could hurt a friend you put the safety back on. It stops the trigger being pulled" IF instructed, pointing out the various parts.

"Right..." I muttered desperately trying to take it all in.

"If you hear a clicking sound means you've ran out of bullets, if that happens give the gun to me and I'll refill it for you" IF finished as the elevator came to a stop. The moment the doors opened she shot out and I had to sprint to keep up with her, she moves ridiculously fast when she wants too. Sliding to a halt we had arrived at one of the windows overlooking the city.

"If you've gotten me all worked up to look out of the window..." I muttered

"Look at the mountains" She said, her eyes transfixed on something.

Following her gaze there was an unnatural thunder cloud beside them, sparks of lightening flicking around inside the cloud, what made it unnatural was the fact that it was a clear day.

"What the hell..." I muttered, staring at this cloud when Kar'zul spoke up.

"That cloud has not been made by any dragon, that reeks of something out of this world" He growled, if that cloud worried him then it was a problem.

"We need to check this out, where are the other girls?" I asked, already moving towards the elevator.

"They are securing the borders and calming the citizens, its up to us." IF replied, getting into the elevator and hitting a button labelled "G"

"Where are we going? We need to start running now" I argued.

"I've got something that'll get us there in no time" IF replied, a grin on her face again.

"Right well it better be fast" I replied, going over the instructions for the gun again.

"Oh right you are gonna want to put this on under your jacket" IF replied, handing me a bunch of leather straps from her coat.

"And this is?" I asked, pulling of my jacket, more confused that enlightened about what it is.

"It's a harness, let me put it on you" IF said, moving close and began to pull it over my arms and slotting my arms into various loops.

"There. There should be a holster under you left arm for the gun, saves you from holding it all the time" IF said. Sure enough there was one just under my arm.

"Did you make this for me?" I asked, a flush appeared on her face as I said this.

"Yes but then this happened so the surprise has been ruined" IF muttered, looking away while playing with a strand of hair.

"Well thank you, it fits perfectly" I replied, patting her head as the door opened, revealing a bright green bike, it's wheels shining in anticipation to get on the road

"Ready to go fast?" IF grinned jogging towards the bike before hopping on.

"This can't be good" I muttered getting on myself.

"It'll be fine, just remember" IF replied, her smug grin settling on her face "Hold on tight"

Suddenly a door opened up in front of us and it revealed a ramp and what looked like a way out, IF twisted the handle and we shot forward without a moments delay, flying out of the room and onto the streets of Planeptune, within minutes we were out of the gates and flying along the road towards the mountain as the thunder clouds loomed.

"S So much wind in my face!" I managed to shout, my lips flapping in the wind as I squinted towards the cloud.

"Try not to talk or you'll swallow a bug" IF laughed, she had something over her mouth allowing her to speak just fine.

All of a sudden there was a loud _Crack!_ the Thunder cloud tore open and out rushed two ships, one had the other almost impaled on it as they slammed into the mountain, breaking into four pieces, all going separate directions, two of them exploded on contact with the ground while the other two were launched on either side of the mountains, the closest on to us digging a massive trench as it came to a stop close to the mountains slope, comepletly destroying a small forest.

"Go for the closer one" I managed to say into IF's ear, the wind making my lips crack as they dried up.

"Gotcha, hang on!" She shouted as she made the bike go even faster, the surroundings becoming a blur as we ate up the distance between us and the remains.

Coming to a halt I jumped off the bike and ran towards the wreck, heading to the torn open end and jumping in.

"Where are you going!?" IF shouted from outside, her voice full of worry.

"Looking for survivors!" I shouted back as I tore a door of it's hinges, Kar'zul's addiontional strength coming handy.

"No-one could of survived this!" She shouted back.

"Maybe they could of, stay outside and get the girls!" I shouted back.

The inside of the ship as a crimson red, coolant falling from pipes as I tore open door after door, stepping over corpses of mangled people, sometimes just body parts were left. As I tore open a door I peered in, inside were what looked to be more guns, some were massive while other were like the one I had.

Behind me I heard the soft sounds of footsteps, turning I could see a man standing there, he had a cloak over his shoulder but the hood was down revealing messy brown hair and bright blue eyes, he had little facial hair on his face. He wore what looked like a mixture of leather armour and some metal pieces on his body, a holster was attached to his leg by small straps, inside the holster lay a pistol like mine and at his side was a sword with a curved blade, it's ebony colour shone dully as he looked up at me, a small smile on his face. The colour red dominated his clothing except for his cloak which was a light brown

"Damn I actually survived that?" He grinned, his voice was hoarse as he spat out a bit of blood before collapsing.

My heart was beating like a jack-hammer as I ran over and checked his pulse, he was still alive and from how hard it was pounding he wasn't going to die anytime soon. Picking him up I made my way outside to see IF just put her phone away.

"We've got a survivor!" I shouted catching her attention.

"What!?" She shouted turning around suddenly.

"He's alive just unconscious!" I replied, setting him down against a nearby tree "you need to keep an eye on him while you look around here for anything else we could use, I'm going back in there"

IF nodded and started exploring around the wreck while keeping an eye on the perimeter and the man.

Jumping back inside I made my way through the ship checking everywhere for someone who is still alive, so far I had no luck as I pulled open the door to the bridge. It was a mess, bodies lay strewn about the place, the captain had a snarl of defiance on his face while he sat in his chair, impaled to it with by a steel girder. Moving over I closed his eyes and closed his mouth slowly.

"What the hell happened here..." I muttered. Seeing no survivors I began to gather the corpses outside, stripping them of their armour and weapons, putting them in a pile close to IF's bike.

"What are you doing?" IF asked, she didn't get too close to the bodies due to the smell.

"Giving them a proper send off, we can't just leave them here rotting." I replied, my voice had grown steely and gave no room for argument. This was how warriors in my dimension were sent off and I was going to give them the same send off. Thankfully I found some fuel canisters in what looked like a storage compartment that hadn't been broken so I poured it over the bodies before checking which way the wind was facing.

"Good it's not coming towards us" I muttered before taking one of the many lighters I found and throwing it onto the pile of corpses, setting them ablaze.

"You seem experienced in doing this" IF noted, it wasn't a compliment or a insult.

"I have had to carry out this grim task for many people who were close to me, my master included" I replied, feeling a wave of sadness wash over me.

"Oh..." IF mumbled "I'm sorry to hear that"

"It's fine, I was not with anyone before you if that's what you were worrying about" I said, smiling slightly before moving towards the man, so far no response has came from him "Where are the girls?"

"They've gone over to the other site to see if there is anything left over there" IF replied, going through the weapons she sorted out which looked broken beyond repair and which could be used. Majority of them were smashed and snapped into pieces but there were a few guns that were able to be used.

"Heard anything yet?" I replied, checking the man's pulse again to check he hadn't died, his pulse was still strong.

"Not yet" IF replied before her phone began ringing.

"You were saying?" I grinned

"Shush you" IF stuck her tongue out at me before answering the phone.

After a short conversation IF turned back to me.

"Apparently there was nothing when they got there" IF said, sounding confused.

"Great now we are going to need to solve the mystery of the vanishing wreck" I replied.

"Should I ask them to come over here?" IF said, worry still in her voice.

"No let's not get anyone's hopes up yet" I replied, getting up. "You should head back and inform them I am checking a few things out about this and will be back as soon as I can"

"But I can't just leave you alone!" IF shouted, desperation in her voice.

"You have to or they'll start worrying too much" I replied, "Trust me if this guy wakes up I think he'd rather talk to the guy he saw after the crash, not a stranger"

"Fine but you owe me for this!" IF growled getting on her bike and sending a quick message to the others before shooting off.

"Jesus she's going to have my ass for this" I mumbled before going through what supplies I had been able to find. Guns, medicine, food and water. Enough supplies to get us back to the city without needing to worry about running out before then.

"Ugh my head..." I heard a voice behind me mutter as I turned around, the man had his hand to his head as he looked up, taking in who I am "Hey you are that guy from before I passed out!"

"Yeah how are you feeling?" I asked, moving over to check on him.

"Well considering all that's happened" He muttered, looking over to the wreck before looking back at me. "Who are you?"

"My name is Thomas Fletcher, and you are?" I replied, offering him a hand up which he took gratefully

"Ethan. Ethan Smith"

"Well Ethan we have a lot to talk about but before that we need to go through what we have here" I said indicating towards the piles of equipment. "I'm surprised you can trust me though"

"If you were out to kill me I wouldn't of woken up from passing out" He replied taking shaky steps towards the equipment, I hovered close by in case he fell.

"True, true" I said a small smile on my face. "You ready to get through some paperwork?"

"Oh god no" Ethan smiled jokingly. I could tell this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship with the only other man alive right now.

* * *

Hey it's the author again!

Things are starting to get a bit interesting eh?

Who is this mysterious man?

Where did he come from?

What happened to the other wreck?

Now enough joking around I must apologize for this chapter being late as it is, my laptop outright refused to work yesterday so I couldn't write up this chapter. Hopefully something like this won't happen again. Once again thank you to those leaving reviews on my chapters, they really help me out and I appreciate all of them.

Bye for now!

WretchedSpectre


	15. Chapter 15

"So you're telling me that you aren't from round here too?" Ethan asked, surprise etched onto his face as we finished up sorting what pieces of armour and weapons we will be taking for ourselves and what we are going to stash away until we can come back and get them, I had found another holster but this one could go over my back and I was struggling to get it working.

"Yeah one of the CPU's pulled me from my dimension to here without telling me that I won't be able to get back" I replied, still fighting with the straps. "Could you help me out here?"

"Sure" Ethan replied walking over and helping me get into the correct straps.

"I seriously don't get how people can have multiple holsters over their body" I muttered reaching down for the gun I decided to bring along, apparently it was something called a sub-machine gun.

"Remind me what this is again?" I asked Ethan showing him the sub-machine gun.

"It's a Universal Mechanized Praetorian 45 Mark 37" Ethan rattled off but must of seen the blank expression on my face "also called the UMP.45 M37"

"Oooh, I totally knew that" I replied, putting it into my back holster as Ethan shook his head and sighed.

"Sure you totally knew that" He replied a smile on his face as he continued to strap extra pieces of that strange metal armour on his arms.

"So tell me about your dimension while we continue to sort this all out" I asked him as I found some more of what he called ammo pouches, clipping them onto my belt and putting what he called clips into them, they were supposed to hold the ammunition required for the gun but for the life of me how that all worked went completely over my head.

"Where I come from is just one massive battlefield" Ethan replied "Two factions fight each other because of evidence found to support some higher power neither cannot decide which god it belongs to so war began and the system has been ravaged. There are no civilians anymore, the only people who aren't holding a weapon or in care until they can join the military are corpses"

"Sounds fun" I replied in a neutral tone, in truth it horrified me that it was a war over religion "Should I bother asking about the religions?"

"Nah for one I cannot remember what it's all about and I never really paid attention when it came to religion" Ethan laughed, he sounded like a man free from his heavy burden.

"Ah fair enough" I replied, a smile springing onto my face again. I was afraid he was going to start trying to spread his religion here.

"Well I'd say I'm ready for this long walk back, are you?" Ethan asked, stretching as he got up, apparently some of the medicine we had found was a lot faster acting than what I had suspected.

"Yeah I guess so, let's hide these weapons first though so no-one has taken them by the time we get back" I replied, pushing what remained into a small hole we dug earlier.

"But that's effort..." Ethan whined as he walked over to help push dirt back into the hole "There I helped"

"You are the worst" I replied "Go keep an eye out for anyone then"

Shooing him away I continued pushing the dirt back over it, it wasn't too difficult and in turn didn't take too long.

"Are you sure you can trust him?" Kar'zul asked, his tone wary as he seemed to be watching Ethan.

"If he wanted to kill me before he could of just shot me" I replied "Anyway he's put a lot of trust in me so it's only right I respond in the same way"

"Fine then, but I will keep an eye on this one" Kar'zul muttered before retreating into the back of my head again, recently he had began to slowly examine more of my memories for books that I may of read to keep himself entertained. He was a slow reader so it took him a week or so to read a big book.

"Fine you do you" I replied before standing up and walking back over to Ethan, I had gotten my suit messy because of what had happened but I didn't mind that much.

"You look like the most dangerous butler alive" Ethan joked

"I'll take that as a compliment" I replied, a smile spreading across my face. "Ready for the walk back?"

"Yeah I guess I am" Ethan replied, pushing himself off the wreck of the ship he was in.

So we began our walk home, it was relatively uneventful, we practiced with our weapons every now and then, he would show me tips on firing my weapon's and I gave him tips on how to use that sword of his, it's design made it great for slashing at targets but not so well at stabbing. So he was at a disadvantage when it came to armoured foes such as a dragon. I couldn't shake the feeling we were being watched for our entire journey and who or whatever seemed to know that I was aware of its presence so it kept its distance, I didn't ask Kar'zul about it though, I couldn't rely on his senses too much or I'd forget some of my basic skills.

As we arrived at the gates of Planeptune I turned to Ethan.

"You may want to pull that hood of yours over your head" I told him, bringing a look of confusion to his face.

"Why's that?" He asked, but complying all the same.

"Because I didn't tell you why I was the only one there when you woke up" I replied as we continued walking "We are the only two males left on this planet, the others have been taken by some curse that has turned them all into dragons"

I expected him to laugh loudly and call me a liar but he just nodded grimly and continued walking, keeping his head down to minimize the chances that someone will see his face.

"Huh I'm surprised that you didn't call me a liar" I said as we walked down the streets towards the basilacom, we gained a few weird looks from passer by's and no doubt a rumour or two will be spread about me walking with a hooded figure.

"After all that's happened today I am not that surprised about this" Ethan replied before he nudged me with an elbow "So you've been stuck having all these girls to yourself?"

"No no god no" I hastily replied "I am dating someone, she was one of the girls who helped rescue you"

"Fair enough" He replied, still chuckling "Do they know we are going to be arriving soon?"

"Yeah I sent them a quick message when I could see the border of Planeptune" I replied

We arrived at the basilacom and I leaned on the desk and got the attention of the busy receptionist.

"Could you tell the girls we've arrived and we will meet them at the top floor" I told her, noting how she suddenly focused on Ethan.

"Of course they will be up the moment they get the message" She replied, not breaking line of sight with Ethan, it was like he became a pile of gold.

"Thanks" I said my goodbye and we headed toward the elevator, as the doors closed Ethan pulled the hood off.

"Do they all stare at you?" Ethan asked, I could hear a tone of worry in his voice, looks like he can't handle all the attention like me.

"Not as much as they used to, it mainly stopped when I announced I was dating IF" I replied "The other girls except IF don't know you are male, they just I have a surprise for them, no doubt they have been pestering her all day"

"So I'm this big surprise?" Ethan cracked a smile at this and covered his head again with the hood, making sure the cloak covered as much of his body as possible.

"Yup, but I'm going to make it look like we went through hell to get here" I answered, a similar grin on my face. It was like being a child again talking to another guy again.

"Doing it to get more attention from your missus?" Ethan laughed, as I tore the sleeves off my suit. I'll just buy another suit.

"Something like that" I laughed too, thinking I looked beat up enough I looked towards Ethan's cloak. "You ready to be the biggest thing since my arrival?"

"Hell no" Ethan managed to smile but I could see the worry in his eyes

"Don't worry, they won't tear you apart, well all except one of them" I replied as the doors opened to the top floor, it was a bit of a mess so I can assume IF got worried and possibly some of the other girls.

"Which one is that?" Ethan asked as he followed me in, he was probably judging what the girls are like if they leave this room messy.

"You'll know when you see her" I replied, hell I wasn't going to spoil the surprise "Go stand by that wall, I'll be opposite you"

We took up our positions and waited, Ethan was leaning against the wall, with his hood and cloak I could barely see any part of him that gave away that he was a guy, I guess the only giving it away would be the boots but I doubt they would notice that. I was lead against the wall making sure that the "damage" I received showed, the white sleeves of the suit were slightly browned due to all the dirt that went through the jacket, the bow tie rested round my neck, not tied up like it's meant to be. The trousers had gained a extra layer of dirt from a couple of tumbles and the shoes were two different colours now, something I was quite proud of really. Pulling out a small bullet I began to flick it like a coin, it was just really me fidgeting while we waited but it seemed to amuse Ethan greatly.

"You know never thought I'd see you nervous" Ethan chuckled,

"I could say the same for yourself" I replied, a smile spreading across my face "You survived a crash from another dimension and here you are worried about meeting a few girls.

"Well I've never really been a people person" Ethan trailed off, probably embarrassed that I picked up on that.

"Sure" I replied laughing "Don't worry I won't tell"

Just then we heard the doors of elevator open and then it was all business, smiles and humour disappeared and Ethan seemed to disappear into the confines of his cloak even more than usual, so much that all I could see of his body was his boots, I went back to flicking the bullet, doing my best to look disinterested. It was hard to look cool as a cucumber ok? Then I heard the other elevator open and the sounds of complaining so I can assume Histoire took that elevator to the dismay of whoever was in there with her.

"Where are they? He said they'd be here.." I heard Noire trail off or was that Black heart? It's hard to distinguish their voices apart sometimes.

"Let's look around the corner" I heard Histoire say, her words of wisdom seemed to guide the girls out of the smallest of problems.

Watching the corner the girls started walking around it and froze up when they took in the sight before them, me with my clothing in tatters and a mysterious stranger with their cloak around their them. Their faces went from worry to concern and finally on suspicion but that was only a minor concern to me, my main concern was the girl in the blue trench coat standing there staring at me, horror on her face.

"Heya" I greeted them, a small smile jumping onto my face.

There was a sudden explosion of movement as a blue blur shot forward, even with Kar'zul's dragon vision it was hard to make out it was IF before she slammed into me, her eyes radiated anger as I could tell she was about to go into full nag / worry mode so I braced myself but then I felt her head rest against my chest and I could tell she had been worried sick so this joke wasn't exactly well appreciated, wrapping my arms around her I comforted her.

"Hey I'm alive, I'm fine" I said, holding her close as she made sure I didn't leave her arms.

"So Fletcher before you turn this scene into an eighteen rated scene would you like to explain who this is?" Neptune called, the tone in her voice showed her concern and hinted at a fight brewing.

"Right, IF could you please?" I replied before nudging IF to get her to let go for a bit, she complied but reluctantly.

Walking over to Ethan he pushed himself off the wall. "This is the survivor of the wreck their name is... you know what I think I'll let him introduce himself" I smiled, the shock was instant on the girls faces when Ethan pulled his hood down, his blue eyes flashing with mirth as he took in their shocked expressions.

"Greetings, my name is Ethan Smith, sole survivor of the Klestral crash, second male to arrive from another dimension" He bowed before straightening up again, a mischievous smile on his face. "I'm ready to assist with your dragon problem"

There was a deafening silence, no one spoke and no one moved, the smile froze on Ethan's face as he tried to stay professional.

"Nice introduction, you'll fit in perfectly here" I patted his shoulder before taking a few steps to the side.

"Dibs!" I heard Iris call out as the girls charged forward, their expressions were one of awe, curiosity and eagerness to find out more about him. Ethan's face on the other hand was one of fear, I guess he wasn't expecting this reaction from them and so let his guard down.

"You can't call dibs on him!" One of the Blanc's cried out,

They crowded around him, each calling out to know more about Ethan, where he came from, what's he like, what did he do on his ship etc. Ethan looked terrified and he looked over to me, a plea for help in his eyes.

"You are on your own Ethan, have fun!" I chuckled as I turned back towards IF, she looked back at me before spreading her arms wide for another hug.

"Hugs really are your thing aren't they?" I chuckled moving forward to hug her.

"Just shut up and hug me" IF retorted and grabbed me, latching onto me.

"Um... I'm sorry to interrupt your touching moment Fletcher but you may need to rescue Mr Smith" I heard Histy's voice in my ear so I looked over to where he was and the girls had apparently tripped him over and were all fallen on top of him, I could just see his gloved hand sticking out of the pile of bodies.

"Oh shit now they've gone and killed him" I muttered, I wasn't going to try and detach myself from IF as I knew she wasn't going to let go of me now. "Rest in peace Ethan"


	16. Chapter 16

"Look I've already told you about my world what else do you want to know?" I heard Ethan cry out in irritation but I barely paid him any mind.

Currently we were all sitting in a small cafe, well I say we were all sitting in the cafe I was currently working, bringing drinks around while most of the girls fussed over Ethan, wanting to know everything about him. Some seemed more interested in him than others while the remaining girls; Compa, IF, Histoire and Histy all were around one table (Histy was actually sitting on the table she was so small)

While the others were in a corner, surrounding poor Ethan and giving him no way to escape, it was like a pack of wolves surrounding an elk. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"My dear butler we are still waiting for our drinks" IF called, her teasing tone bringing back to attention, moving quickly I went to the kitchen window to get the tray of drinks before coming back to IF's table.

"My most sincere apologies, I was distracted" I bowed deeply after handing the girls their drinks.

"You've taken to this job like a fish to water Fletcher" Histy called, using one of my favourite phrases.

"Ah you flatter me" I smiled and gave her another bow before walking over to Ethan's table.

"Are you ready to order now missus and poor lonely male?" I asked, smiling as they all suddenly sat up and patted down their clothing.

"Does the menu come with a get out of this situation free meal?" Ethan asked, his face was quite flushed at all the attention.

"No I'm sorry dear friend" I apologized with fake sympathy "We do have the delightful offer of "You are single and ready for your spouse" Would you prefer that?"

"What!? N-" Ethan started but the girls cut him off all laughing at the joke so all he could do was glare daggers at me.

"Now that the joking and mirth is done would any of you like to actually order something?" I continued, looking at the girls shameful faces as none of them had actually read the menu.

"Could I have a vanilla swirl?" Ethan asked, rather timidly for him.

"Oh could I have one of those too?" It was like the flood gates had opened and all of the girls asked for the same.

"You girls need to order something different at some point, that and give Ethan some room he's not looking too good" I commented, that in turn was a lie but I needed to get him out of there

"Oh no he does look rather bad" Blanc commented, sending a knowing look towards me. Seems like she had her fill of teasing and knowledge from him so was willing to let him get away.

"Would you like to come with me sir?" I asked him, he looked confused at first but seemingly caught on quickly and began faking his apparent illness.

"That would be grand" He coughed as the girls slid out of his way so he could get out

While passing the kitchen I asked the kitchen staff to start on the order of nine vanilla ice-cream swirls while I look after a ill looking customer, we walked out into the side ally and I laughed as Ethan took in great gulps of air.

"I never thought I would be happy to breathe in fresh air" He laughed, a smile dancing across his face.

"Ah it's fine, I'm surprised you lasted this long to be honest" I chuckled.

"How did you survive for this long by yourself?" Ethan asked, a smile was still on his face but it wasn't a joke, he was really curious.

"I got a girlfriend within a month of arriving here" I told him, I wasn't joking or trying to make fun of him. I love IF and I was glad we found each other.

"So you're telling me to get a girlfriend soon?" Ethan asked, he sounded like a kid asking his father for advice on a game.

"Hell no, stay single for as long as possible. Enjoy your freedom but when you find the one don't try and be someone you aren't" I advised him

"Fair enough" He replied "Should we head back in yet?"

Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a small cardboard packet, pulling out a cigarette.

"Nah it'll take some time to make those desserts, that and I haven't done this yet" I replied "Have you got a lighter?"

"Yeah, I didn't know you smoked" Ethan pulled out a small lighter and lit up the cigarette "Couldn't smell it on you"

"Ah that's because it's a mint cigarette, it's good for the teeth and your lungs" I replied "It's a miracle thing in this place"

"So it's completely different compared cigarettes from our dimensions?" Ethan asked shocked.

"Yup, though if one of the girls saw me doing this they'd get the wrong idea" I replied.

A moment of silence passed between us, broken every now and then by the soft sound of my breath after breathing out from the cigarette.

"Think you can share me one of those?" Ethan asked hopeful.

"Hell no" I chuckled "Go back in there and put up with the girls questions then we can talk about it"

Laughing we both head in, I stamped out the cigarette before entering.

"Ah Fletcher good timing, the vanilla swirls are ready" I heard one of the kitchen staff call out.

"You keep going Ethan, no rest for the wicked" I chuckled before heading towards the kitchen window.

"Yeah that's true" He laughed, walking beside each other we reached his table, Histy was sat in the middle of their table and all the girls looked rather shameful.

"Here are everyone's desserts" I managed to say without breaking out into laughter, it seems like Histy had went and decided to give the girls a piece of her mind while we were outside.

"Thank you..." A group mumble came from the girls, their heads staying looking down.

"Now what do you say?" Histy almost growled at the girls, it would of been cute hearing her growl but from how she has managed to pacify those girls as small as she is, she must be a monster when angry.

"Sorry for pestering you Ethan..." They all muttered apologetically, they were like a group of dogs who had just pissed off the leader of the pack, ears down and tails between their legs.

"It's fine" Ethan smiled.

"You are a kind man" I chuckled before walking back towards the other group. "Do you girls want anything else?"

"I'm fine thank you" Histoire replied.

"I'm fine Fletchy" Compa agreed.

"Same" IF agreed.

"That is fine missus we hope to see you again" I bowed deeply before heading towards the kitchen, noticing that the girls were all still in their seats and talking to Ethan normally instead of their usual berserker rage.

"No, no matter how many times you ask me I am not going to allow you to run tests on me" Ethan said.

"But Ethan..." Compa whined "You could be so different and interesting and for the pursuit of science I have to take a look at you"

"What about Fletcher!?" Ethan shouted, looking at me with fire in his eyes.

"Cuz I had a sword and swords always keep people away" I chuckled while watching this bickering while I sat on the sofa, with IF sleeping across my lap.

"Maybe you should keep it down?" I continued "IF is sleeping remember? So are the other girls and I really don't want to try and calm them down"

"True" Ethan agreed "So how bout we leave this argument till the morning?"

"Fine but I will get to run tests on you" Compa huffed before storming out of the room, apparently not getting to test on the only two males seems to be having a massive effect on her.

"I'm going to head to bed also, I've gotta check my room for Compa" Ethan smiled before heading towards the exit too, stopping just at the door to look back at us "try to avoid creating too much of a mess"

"Ah shut up" I replied causing Ethan to laugh, not too loudly though before leaving the room. Apparently his work being done.

A silence settled over the room, the soft sounds of IF breathing could be heard every now and then but other than that it was blissful silence. Kar'zul was either too engrossed in a book to make a comment and the others were sleeping, Compa may be in the process of abducting Ethan to run some tests on him but that wasn't my problem, well until he starts screaming in pain, then it's my problem. The silence gave me time to think on my time since arriving here, how Iris decided leaving out the information that once I go to her dimension there was no way back. How the girls seemingly fought over me just because I was the only male left. How I met IF. How I met and killed then bonded with Kar'zul. So much had happened in just over three months.

I could feel a storm was brewing on the horizon, a storm so large it would seem like forever until the sun shines again so I should learn to enjoy these few remaining quiet moments, I hope I can survive this storm without losing someone again, I don't know if I could survive losing someone else. My master had always praised me on my ability to read the weather accurately, without the help of tools "You rely on your instincts and heart" She would always say "That is good, a hunter cannot rely on his thoughts as poison and dragons can disrupt them, men and women can trick you with honey words and false promises. A true hunter always relies on their heart and instincts and they are rarely wrong"

Well this was the one time I hoped they were wrong, because by the time this storm clears up, my instincts tell me I won't be the same after it.

* * *

Heya it's the author again, yeah that annoying guy.

So I guess main topic of today's author notes is the short chapter 16. First of all I'm sorry to any and all people who are a bit irritated it's shorter than previous chapters but that's because I'm coming up to a serious point in the story and I'd like to finish off this little segment of happiness and joy of another male arriving alive and everyone being happy and content before I go onto a more action focused segment of this story.

Now I'm going to attempt to answer any questions that may be forming in people's heads preemptively:

1) I will not be changing the upload schedule because of this so no need to worry

2) Chapters shall hopefully be around the same length of around 2,000 to 3,000 words. I know I've been able to hit around 2,500 but I want to shorten the chapters to around that length, that way it'll make writing these chapters easier and I won't have to worry about getting the dreaded writers block.

3) I will still be putting the same amount of effort I have been putting into the other chapters so linking in with the new chapter length planned I won't just be getting up to the minimum mark I am going to really push to complete the situation before moving onto the next chapter.

Right that should be all questions hopefully answered, lets keep the good times rolling and complete this story eh?

Talk soon!

WretchedSpectre


	17. Chapter 17

My eye's slowly cracked open, stinging slightly from the light shining in from the open curtains.

"who opened the windows?" I mumbled, stretching my arms above my head.

"I did, it is morning you know" Histoire called from behind me.

"So I can assume I fell asleep on the couch and IF did not drag me back upstairs in my sleep?" I joked, looking down at the still sleeping IF and contemplating whether or not to wake her.

"No she has not abducted you" Histoire chuckled "You are needed to check something out though"

Turning my head round I looked over to Histoire, she was floating around the table we used for discussing plans, a mug of what I could assume was coffee.

"What am I having to check out?" I asked, gently patting IF on the head in a gentle attempt to wake her.

"We have been told about figures moving about close to the southern border of the city, Ethan as gone to check it out but we've heard nothing back from him" Histoire replied "I thought it would be best for you to go check him out.

"Fine but how am I supposed to get up without waking IF up?" I muttered, smiling as she mumbled in her sleep.

"She can be a heavy sleeper sometimes, try lifting her" Histoire suggested, a small chuckle escaping her lips.

Gently I tried lifting her up I began to slid from under her, feeling slightly bad as a frown came across her face when I was no longer under her.

"Sorry Iffy" I whispered, setting her down gently on the couch before heading towards the elevator. I wasn't going to go unarmed to something like this, especially with how my instincts were screaming at me that something was going to happen soon.

Arriving on the floor that had my room I briskly walked over to my room and let myself in, moving into the bathroom I quickly showered before heading towards wear my armour hung up, it's dark green leather were a stark contrast to the now silver metal plates that now are attached on the arms and legs, the metal plates shone in the morning sun.

"Hello beautiful" I smiled before getting into it, the hard leather rubbing against my skin slightly as I stretched out "I've got to lose some weight"

Moving towards the wall where I hung my weapons I pulled down the sub-machine gun and the broken blade, I thought I wouldn't need the others, it's just a simple check up right?

Reaching the city walls I clambered up to the top of the wall, finding Ethan peering over it I walked over to him.

"What's happening?" I asked, Ethan's face looked grave.

"Been hearing trouble" Ethan replied, turning to face me "I might not be the only survivor"

"How? We found no other wreck" I asked, I could feel the ice flowing through my veins. My instincts were right as usual"

"Well it seems like someone got away, and they aren't with us" Ethan muttered, turning back around to look over the wall.

"Do you think you could guess who could survive?" I questioned him, standing beside Ethan as he surveyed the area

"Yeah, there is one person who is known as a survivor" Ethan replied "Lance corporal Dunn, he isn't a happy fellow, one of the best snipers in my dimension, we were sent to kill him when we got pulled into this dimension. He's always ready and almost impossible to get close to, that's why I was called in, to remove him."

"And how were you going to do that?" I asked, I could feel my heart start to beat slower as something felt... wrong.

"By using m-" Ethan started before Kar'zul's voice tore through my head.

"Grab him and get down now!" He shouted, sending a quick image of what looked like a bullet flying through the air towards us.

Grabbing Ethan I pulled him down as the bullet tore through the air where he stood.

"What the?" Ethan shouted out, struggling to get out of my grip.

"Stay down!" I shouted back "Someone just fired at us!"

Ethan suddenly froze up, a sliver of fear in his eyes but curiosity there also.

"How can you tell?" He asked.

"I'll tell you later" I replied, sticking my head over the top of the wall.

"The shot came from forest" Kar'zul growled, his anger filling my systems.

"Ethan how far away is that forest?" I pointed out, releasing my grip on him so he could move.

"That's over one thousand miles away" Ethan replied "Why?"

"Well I think we just found your sniper" I muttered "You need to get to the girls and tell them that everyone needs to avoid going outside the city walls"

"What about you?" Ethan asked

"I'll get down don't worry just get the message to them" I replied

Watching Ethan slip away I peered over the top again, watching the edge of the forest for anything that could catch my eye.

"See anything Kar'zul?" I asked him, hoping he could see something.

"No it seems like that sniper has left you now" he replied, "For someone to pull of a shot like that from this distance..."

"Yeah..." I agreed "People from Ethan's dimension are something else"

Sliding from the top of the wall I just got down the steps when I could see the girls flying over, Blanc carrying Ethan in what I could only be described as a bridal carry, I was never going to let him live that down, IF was a bit behind them, her bike struggling to keep up with how fast those girls were going.

"What's happening?" Neptune asked, landing just in front of me "Can you see this sniper?"

"He's gone now by the looks of things but until we can get rid of him people cannot leave the city" I replied grimly.

"How can you tell he's gone?" Noire asked rather aggressively,

"Because I haven't got a hole in my head!" I growled, making her take a step back in shock.

Yes I snapped at Noire but her tone of voice rubbed me up in the wrong way ok?

A moment of silence passed as the girls looked at me in shock and Noire looked hurt.

"Look I'm sorry but I'm currently pumped up on adrenaline and on edge as I'm not one hundred per cent certain that they are gone, so I need you girls to go to all the exits of the city and see if you can close the gates so people can't sneak out" I apologized, I did feel sorry for scaring these girls but I never really got on with Noire and I was telling the truth, my ears were roaring and with Kar'zul still growling and on high alert it seems like my own emotions were intertwined with his.

"Ok" The girls all replied before shooting off leaving me alone with IF and Ethan.

"Are you ok?" IF asked, putting the back of her palm against my forehead before pulling it back sharply "You are like lava"

"Probably a side effect of the adrenaline" I brushed it off but I bet it's because of Kar'zul "We need to close this gate, Iffy do you know where a lever or something can close this gate?"

"Yeah it's in that building right there" IF pointed over to, the building was part of the wall, its wooden panels must have gotten a new coat of paint recently because it shone quite brightly in the sun.

"Right lets go close this gate" I replied, moving towards the gate house.

Within a few minutes the gate was closed and the message was spread, people were confused about the sudden lock up but thankfully did not question it, it was going to be difficult to explain the sniper.

"Right let's meet back up in the basilacom" IF said, hopping onto her bike "Get on?"

"Sorry no can do IF" I replied, feeling slightly bad about rejecting her offer "I need to lose some weight"

"You aren't that fat" IF laughed "Fine if that's what you want but next time you are getting on this bike"

"You are going to have to drag me onto that beast" I chuckled, I wasn't that afraid of it but the speed that bike can go really freaks me out.

Watching IF speed off towards the basilacom I turned and started walking down a side street, already dreading the conversation I am about to have with the shadowy figure lurking there.

"So ready to finally tell me how you saw the bullet and the sniper?" Ethan's tone of voice was difficult to place, he sounds pissed off though.

"Let's get onto the roof first of all" I replied "This story could be a bit of a shock to you"

Moving past Ethan I began to climb the ladder behind him onto the building, Ethan was on the ladder and following me quickly. Soon we sat on top of the building as the crimson sun took up the evening sky, pulling out my box of cigarettes I offered one to Ethan who took one while I pulled one out for myself, this would been the perfect setting for an advertisement for making friends if it wasn't so tense.

"So you remember all those dragons I told you about?" I started after Ethan lit both of our cigarettes "And that one I killed after jumping off the basilacom?"

"Yeah I remember, you told me that story soon after you saved me from the wreck" Ethan replied, blowing out some smoke, keeping his eyes on the horizon.

"Well that one I killed didn't die straight away" I continued "He bonded with me when I came too"

"If this is a joke then I am not laughing" Ethan replied, his eyes flicking over to me, a hard steel like shine in them.

"I am not joking, how do you want me to prove it?" I asked, a soft smile flickering over my face.

"I dunno what can you do?" Ethan replied, turning to face me.

"Hmm let me ask Kar'zul if he can do anything that'll prove his existence" I said, noticing Ethan's confused expression I laughed "Kar'zul is the dragon"

"Ooh I totally knew that" Ethan replied.

"Sure you did" I replied smiling, it looked like he wasn't going to shoot me just yet

"So Kar'zul how can you help me prove your existence?" I asked him, Ethan tried to stop himself laughing as I seemingly spoke to thin air but failed miserably.

"Proof eh? I've got an idea, put your hand on him" Kar'zul replied.

"He couldn't of made it any more wrong if he tried" I muttered before turning to Ethan "This isn't me coming onto you, this is me giving my proof"

Putting my hand on Ethan's shoulder I watched half amused as Ethan at first looked confused, then disgusted before Kar'zul's voice rang out between us.

"Here is your proof Ethan Smith." Kar'zul growled "I am the dragon Kar'zul and I will not tolerate you thinking I am fake"

"Whoa" Ethan muttered

"Stop showing off now Kar'zul" I laughed removing my hand his shoulder "believe me now?"

"Yeah, and Im going to need some painkillers after that" Ethan muttered, seems like he is still struggling to comprehend what just happened "So why don't any of the girls know about this?"

"Because I don't know how they are going to react to the knowledge that I am bonded with an elder dragon" I replied, getting up "Come on we have a long walk back"

Getting up we walked over to the edge of the building before Ethan stopped me.

"What happens now then huh?" Ethan asked, his serious tone taking over "We tell the girls and find out their reaction?"

"No let's keep it as a secret between us two for now" I replied "After all this danger has blown over then I'll break it too them"

"Fine but make sure when you do I am at least five miles away from you" Ethan joked.

"When I do plan on telling everyone I'll warn you" I laughed.

"Thanks" Ethan replied before he started clambering down the ladder.

"So now someone knows about us" Kar'zul "Are you sure you can trust him not to tell anyone?"

"I trust him with my life" I replied without hesitation "With all the action building up we can't afford to mistrust each other"

"True, well I can't stop you really" Kar'zul replied.

Climbing down the ladder I jogged to catch up with Ethan, I wasn't lying when I said I trusted him but I was still worried he could get drunk and accidentally blab. I'm going to have to join him if he goes drinking now... Great. It's going to be difficult explaining to Iffy when I come back to the basilacom smelling of alcohol.

* * *

Hey it's the annoying author again.

So sorry this took until Sunday to finally upload I was having a hard time trying to figure out what to write in this chapter so if this also seems rushed.

So bit of bad news is that I'm really struggling with ideas for this story so I'm going to set this one on break for a while so I can hopefully think up more ideas where I'm taking this story but in turn I have some good news, I'm going to start another story some point soon I'm just trying to think of ideas for characters, I already have two characters in the process of being created and hopefully the rest will be done so I can start writing, so if you enjoy my writing on this story check out my RWBY fanfic coming out soon hopefully. If anyone has any OC characters they want included PM me the details and I'll see if I can add them in.

Until we meet again!

WretchedSpectre


	18. Chapter 18

Heya it's that annoying author again!

This time the message is coming up at the front of the chapter this time as a bit of a warning.

This is the darkest chapter I have ever wrote in my life.

I've written this chapter, as dark as it is, as an example for the next load of chapters for this story. This is a dark time for our heroes and as such is slowly building up to the final climatic battle. Yes I know this is spoilers telling you ahead of time that we are reaching the conflict of this story but we still have a long way to go it's just a warning that from now till the end there will be a mix of action, horror and character development. So if you came to this story for light amounts of action and loads of character development you are sadly mistaken. There will not just be battles against dragons but humaniods too. So be prepared for hopefully a story that will catch your breath and make you want the next chapter faster.

Here's hoping I won't lose a lot of you guys now due to this dark turn.

Cheers for putting up with my insanity.

WretchedSpectre

* * *

As we arrived back at the basilacom it was strangely quiet, usually there was a hum of energy or talk from people moving about here and there but there was not a single person in sight, no sounds of movement or talk. Even the generators Noire had set up before I had arrived in this dimension were silent, it was like the whole building was holding its breath. Reaching over my shoulder I pulled the sub-machine gun out of it's holster as Ethan unsheathed is sword and while holding it in one hand pulled out a pistol too and held it firmly in the over, making short sweeps of the room.

"This isn't right" I muttered "Where is everyone?"

"No kidding" Ethan replied, he whispered like something was listening in.

"Should we sweep the building first or cordon it off and evacuate people in the surrounding area first?" I asked when a piece of paper drifted down from the darkened ceiling.

Bending down I picked it up, one side was blank but after turning it round there was a message on the other side.

"Nice girls you have here. Well Scales and Social reject if you wanna have them back you ready to fight for them? It'll be such a fun time believe me" I read aloud.

"Social reject?" I heard Ethan mutter, mildly annoyed at the comment but I could feel the red haze coming already.

"Give them back asshole!" I roared, if I got my hands on the sick fuck who did this he wouldn't be walking for the rest of his life.

"Ah ah ah now where is all the fun in that?" A voice could suddenly be heard, it must of came over the speakers because there was a slight amount of interference "You gotta play the game for each girl"

"When I find you I am going to rip you apart!" I replied, it felt like Kar'zul was taking over more when I was angry but I didn't care, this guy needed to die.

"Scales, language. There are kids here" The voice purred, it had a strange accent to it, rough and made him sound like a rapist.

"You abducted children?" Ethan growled "You are worse than scum, the mud on the bottom of my boot is better than you"

"Looks like the social reject knows how to talk!" the voice laughed "Ever wonder why those girls had two of each other? That's because they themselves come from another dimension! Crazy right? Well that little cute brunette and the ditzy bimbo have other versions of themselves in that dimension too, only thing is they are kids. So you ready to play the game or do I have show them how to carve pumpkins?"

I could feel the bile filling my stomach listening to this sick sack of shit.

"Fine what's your game?" I snarled, Ethan was looking even more pissed off that he's being called a Social reject by a psychopath.

"Well you better drop those darn weapons of yours at that little box at the front door, don't want you cheating in a test of skill" He chuckled, his accent was starting to piss me off more and more.

Turning round there was a pink box in the corner with the label "Feed me!" on it. How quaint. Moving over to the box I pulled it open and saw it was empty, a small pink pillow sat at the bottom of the box, pulling the gun off my back I lay it down inside the box.

"This is the most degrading thing I've ever done" I muttered slowly and delicately placing my broken blade down.

"Yeah I'm taking orders from a psychopath and a monster" Ethan agreed, laying his weapons inside also.

"There we've put the weapons in, you happy?" I called out.

"Yup! Now let's all tell a dark secret to everyone here, so that's me, you two and all the girls so we are all on equal ground and know something scary about each other. I'll tell you how I got in and managed to take these cuties hostage"

"Ugh" I groaned "Can you summarize it so we aren't here all day? The piece of pipe waiting to go up your ass sideways isn't going to put itself there"

"Language little boy, anymore lip from you and I'll be teaching these kiddies how to carve pumpkins!" I heard the stern voice call out and I clammed shut, I needed to control my temper

"Don't aggravate him" Ethan warned me, nodding silently

"Good boy, well I shall summarize it for your under developed brain so listen up! There is this little thing in their building that powers their abilities and the like, it runs on the belief in the goddesses, plant a few explosives on it and make it go boom removes their power, without that they have no weapons to use and no way to escape, adding little kids to the mix too and they gave themselves up" The voice bragged while my blood ran cold, the girls had been reduced to just normal people now "Now then social reject tell us a dark secret!"

"Do I have to?" Ethan replied, I could see the steel in his eyes hadn't left but there was fear leaking in.

"Yes Yes! Come on tell us we are all waiting to hear!" The voice crowed, they sounded like a hyper active child who was about to hear a secret from their friends.

"I..." Ethan began before looking away to compose himself "I am the head executioner from my realm and I am responsible for the execution of many of the opposing faction"

"Oh really? But wasn't your method the really juicy part?" The voice goaded him on, it already knew his darkest secret but wanted him to say it. He must of talked to that sniper often.

"I would hunt them for weeks on end, never letting them give up till they could run no more.." Ethan looked like he was about to break down saying this, I never thought he could do something like this but I didn't care. He was a different man than what he was like, he had to be.

Moving over I put my hand on his shoulder causing him to jump and look at me, his eyes were tearing up.

"Hey you are a different guy than what you were" I told him firmly.

"But..." Ethan mumbled, holding his face in his hands

"If you were still some blood crazed maniac I would of noticed the moment you got started interacting with those girls. They would of seen it too, in your realm you had to be cruel but you don't have to here" I cut it "Leave it to the monsters like him to be cruel"

"That's interesting coming from a monster yourself" The voice chipped in "Now I already know what you are scales but these girls don't. They already look horrified enough with Ethan's confession but they still look like they can forgive him for that. But when they hear what you have in store for them I think they are going to never trust you again"

"Aye I'll agree with you on that one freak" I replied, moving forward so I was in front of Ethan

"Don't tell him anything!" I heard a voice over the speaker shout up, it was IF's suddenly she cried out as a commotion could be heard.

"Sorry 'bout that, looks like the cute brunette had managed to move up and over" The voice came back

"What did you do to her!?" I roared, I could feel myself slipping further and further into rage as Kar'zul slowly became more and more prominent in my head, he was bathed in fire and roaring a challenge to the voice.

"Just put her back in her place, she won't wanna talk for a while after the beating I gave her" The voice purred again "Now tell you secret Scales! Loud and clear unlike Social reject down there!"

I could feel the fire burning my skin, my eye sight was red, my throat burned with the desire to tear him apart.

"I am fused with the elder dragon Kar'zul, by body and spirit! When I find you, you are going to wish you were never born!" I don't remember moving my lips like that, I couldn't feel my arm as it reached up into towards the sound of the voice and it clenched into a fist.

"And there you have it folks" The voice cackled "The confession! He lives two lives with one body!"

I could hear distressed screaming from the other side and constant denials but he kept laughing.

"Give me full control" I heard Kar'zul growl before he appeared before me "I will make this man pay for his actions"

"You don't even know where he is!" I retorted

"I do not care! He has trampled on my pride and awoken my anger!" He roared in defiance "I will find him and burn the flesh from his bones!"

"No you could endanger the girls" I replied, I wanted more than anything to make this man suffer but the girls come first

"Fine but when we find him and get a clear shot, don't stop me or you will not survive the ordeal" Kar'zul growled before fading away

"Well looks like Scales is back in control!" The voice laughed hysterically "For that wonderful performance I shall award you both of the children! But they have to stay by you at all times!"

Suddenly a door sprung open and two kids stumbled out, tears streaming down their faces as they looked at us with fear in their eyes. He wasn't kidding when they looked like kid versions of IF and Compa.

"Have fun getting them to trust you after your performance!" The voice giggled "I'll give you a couple minuets to sort things out before we play the next game!"

There was a loud _Snap!_ before everything went silent.

"What did I do?" I asked Ethan, not taking my eyes of either of the kids.

"Look on the wall and you'll see" Ethan replied, he was watching the kids too but either out of shock for whatever I did or because he was as unsure on what to do as I was I couldn't tell. Looking to my right I felt my blood run cold, what looked like ancient runes were melted onto the wall, molten metal dripped from the cuts sluggishly.

"How..." I trailed off, looking at the markings still

"With your fingers" Ethan replied, slowly crouching down "Hey we don't mean to be scary it's just the bad man"

With those words the kid version of Compa burst into tears and the kid version of IF stepped in front of her protectively but even she was tearing up.

"No No NO that's not how you get children to like you" The voice called "You gotta scare them! GO TO YOUR FATHERS YOU LITTLE CREEPS!"

Suddenly the kids were in a full on sprint as they ran towards us, hiding at our feet.

"Daddy I'm scared.." I heard little IF whine, testing my fingers before I touched her I found them cold again so I held her protectively to my leg.

"What did you do to these kids real parents?" I asked, doing my best to not scare the kids even more.

"Things that would upset the kiddies" The voice laughed "Next up for grabs the dominatrix and the busty one!"

"What do you want us to say now?" Ethan asked, it must be taking all of his restraint to avoid shouting or growling

"Simple! Someone has to sacrifice something that is both alive currently and breathing" The voice called out "It has to be theirs to give and not someone else's"

"A blood sacrifice?" I simplified, horrified at the choice.

"Yes and you must kill it with your own hands" He cawed, he wanted us to kill the kids

"I'm not harming these kids man" Ethan told me "My hands are already coated in blood of the innocent, I can't kill kids... I'm trying to avoid killing any human to make up for my past"

"You won't need to" I replied grimly "Take mini IF and mini Compa to the other side of the room and don't you dare let them see or hear this"

Ethan looked at me in shock before taking mini IF and moving them to the corner, putting them close together he managed to cover their outside ears with his hands while using his chest to cover their other ears.

"You want a blood sacrifice huh?" I growled

"So you are going to die for the girls? Oh how dramatic!" He cawed "Oh I don't know what to say I've never had a sacrifice like this before!"

A altar raised up in the middle, it looked like it would crush inwards a the press of a button, destroying anything on the inside.

"I'm not dying but the blood price will be made" I growled, reaching up to my right eye and pushing my fingers deep into my head. It was the worst feeling in the world and I screamed in pain, gripping the eye I tore it out of my head, ripping the cord off too.

The room was silent as I placed the eye in the middle of the altar, my other hand clutching at the hole in my face

"That eye is a synthetic eye given to me from my realm, I lost my original eye a long time ago and that had been serving as my sight for now" I thundered, letting my hand drop, they could probably see the wiring inside my eye socket, it hurt yes but it was designed to come out if need be and to destroy the pain I would feel within minutes, I could already feel the pain disappearing, thankfully there was no blood to clean up.

"Oh bravo!" The voice called out, the altar slamming shut, destroying my synthetic eye within seconds "Bravo sir! Take a bow I am speechless!"

A loud clapping sound could be heard from the other end

"What a beautiful performance! Please take the girls and more!" Another door opened up and the girls spilled out, rushing over to us. I could see the concern in their eyes but I didn't want them close to me, not until this was finished.

"Don't come closer to me, help Ethan and the kids but stay away. It's time I repented for my sins" I growled. My lies and decite had finally caught up to me and it was time I paid for them.

"Now if you notice the two smallish cute brunette's I've saved for last!" The voice cawed again as I heard the girls fuss over the kids behind, once in a while I could hear mini IF calling for them to help me and as much as it broke my heart I told them every time to stay back.

"What next huh? You took my eyesight! You made me reveal my darkest secret! What's next huh?" I challenged him, I was tired of these games and no doubt these girls had judgement to pass on me soon enough.

"Oh the hero takes the stage!" He laughed "A simple thing really"

Suddenly the doors in front of us opened and out walked a man, holding IF and Blanc hostage, they weren't bleeding but IF had a bruise on her jaw but she still looked defiant, her posture crumpled a little when she saw the state I was in and she almost cried out for me but the man shook her violently, causing her to quieten down.

The man was dressed in what looked like a old show master uniform, fit with lacy strings to hold the jacket together, he was lean and thin with no muscle on him but I guess he preferred torturing his victims to actually killing them.

"Make a choice; save the love of your life or the girl who is in love with the Social reject?" He cawed

Kar'zul sprung forward and took control in an instant but he didn't lunge forward like I suspected.

"You want me to kill them with my bare hands?" He asked, in my voice.

"No no no that would be too barbaric!" The show master called out "But I havent given you my name! I am-" He had started to bow but then Kar'zul moved, slamming my foot into the floor a large nail was launched into the air, my body spun around and I was torn along with it as my foot struck out with terrifying accuracy, launching the nail at the man, it tore into his chest and buried itself all the way to the head.

"That is what you get for trampling on a dragons pride" Kar'zul growled, this time in his own voice that vibrated across the room. I heard an audible gasp behind me but then I had control again. At this point the show master had finally noticed the nail in his chest and was grasping weakly at the head, not caring about the girls anymore as I walked forward, Blanc shot off towards the rest of the group but IF moved towards me.

"Don't fall to the same place he has" She whined as she attempted to stop me reaching the man as he fell to his knees.

"As much as he deserves it I won't" I replied, pushing by her and crouching in front of the man.

"Looks like my show has ended..." he smiled weakly

"Tell me who sent you" I put bluntly "You are dying so redeem yourself in that area at least"

"The one you fight obviously, I survived the crash. A torturer told to weaken the bonds between you lot by my master" he coughed out blood, weakly looking up at me "That's all I have time for"

Then he died, falling towards me I caught his corpse. Gently I patted his shoulder before laying him to rest on the Basilacom floor. Closing his eyes so he would not stare at the ceiling. Turning towards the girls they looked uncertain on what to do, some were looking horrified at me, some were making sure the kids didn't see anything.

"Lets clean this mess up first before we ask questions, there are many things to do before we can successfully say this place is safe again."


	19. Chapter 19

I've been in some awkward situations before but never one as awkward as this. Me and Ethan were walking through the corridors of the Basilacom, we had volunteered to check for any traps and were nearly done. That circus freak hadn't left a single trap, no bombs, no crazy bear traps. Nothing. I have no idea if that is worse or better.

"This just seems too easy.." I muttered, quickly glancing towards Ethan who was looking down at the floor.

"Yeah I know what you mean but we have got to check" He muttered, his voice sounded troubled.

"What's up?" I asked him, stopping so he had to turn to face me.

"I'm confused." Ethan replied, looking up at me, I could see the question lingering in his eyes.

"About what?" I asked, I could feel the worry boiling up inside me.

"How did that guy get inside? Without anyone hearing him or seeing him?" Ethan answered.

His answer sent waves of ice down my spine.

"We need to get back to the girls. Now" I growled, kicking off down the corridor; pumping my arms furiously in an attempt to go faster. I could sense that Ethan was right behind me, I could almost smell his fear as we burst into the Basilacom reception and looked around for the girls.

"Crap where are they?" I heard Ethan mutter but I was already moving towards the small pink box beside the door; slamming my boot into the lid it flew off revealing the weapons we left inside. Picking Ethan's sword and pistol I chucked them over to him which he caught deftly and I picked up my own weaponry when an explosion rocked the room.

"Oh no..." I almost whispered before rushing outside.

Outside was chaos, smoke billowed from the northern gate ahead of us and people ran screaming from the tide of monsters coming our way, broken yellow teeth clashing together as they scrambled over each other to get towards the screaming population. A dark voice could be heard over the screams and roars.

The monsters themselves were all different in a way, some looked like giant insects, some were like various creatures I have seen in this dimension and some even looked human but they all had one common feature beside the dark gray scales. Yellow, broken teeth and beady black eyes.

"Finish these girls off quickly! They are all that stands in your way!"

I stood and watched as the town's defenders took up positions at the plaza around the Basilacom, I could see the fear in their eyes, they were shaking as they aimed down the street towards the oncoming horde of monsters. These girls were not going to last a second against that horde, they were too new to combat, too scared. The horde of monsters stopped a few short meters from the defenders, teeth gnashing, small beady eyes focusing on the defenders pale faces. Suddenly they started some chant; roaring, screaming in unison. It was deafening, it was like they were working themselves into a blood rage as dark tendrils broke out from their scaled hides, whole limbs were lost as more of the darkness burst from their bodies, spilling onto the street. But their chant continued getting louder and louder, the defenders looked like they were about to run when one of the monsters broke away from the line and charged forward towards them, it's sprint was broken from the additional weight on one side but it didn't stop. The defenders screamed and their rifles flashed as lasers were fired in fright towards the monster, the few that landed were only grazing blows it raised its scaled tree trunk like arms, aiming to smash down onto the thin line when I saw a flash of brown appear and a dark, exotic blade buried to the hilt in the monsters head.

Slowly it toppled backwards, landing on the ground with a colossal thump. Silence echoed all around as the dust settled. Ethan stood on the head of the downed creature, his brown cloak billowing behind him like a dark flame, everything about him was different.

His usual casual and calm pose was now replaced with a confident, serious pose, his hands hung loosely at his side as he looked towards the line of stunned monsters. The hood on his cloak fell off revealing his dark brown hair billowing in the wind as he pulled his sword out of the creature and flicked the blood off the blade. The blade itself was dark, almost like coal with strange white etchings along the blade.

"Sorry to disappoint but I'm not letting you monsters harm a single one of these defenders" He replied, the cheerful tone in his voice sounded... forced.

A group of three monsters kicked off towards Ethan, while two were almost like humans the last was like a giant spider, its mouth clashed together as it neared Ethan.

"Crap Ethan I'm-" I started but Kar'zul cut me off.

"No, for him these three will be nothing nuisance" Kar'zul stated, watching Ethan carefully.

"But!" I started but by then the monsters had already reached Ethan.

The first humanoid swung at Ethan, dark claws tearing the area apart where he stood, but he had already moved. Jumping onto its arms he kicked off its head and landed in a roll, ducking under the second swing by the other arm. Sprinting forward he brought his sword down onto one of the creatures but it raised its arm and the sword bounced off without a scratch.

The second rushed forward as if sensing a weakness from Ethan but Ethan skipped deftly out of the way before swinging his sword upwards in a underhand grip, it struck the arm but this time it cut deep into the arm, black blood spilling out as it screamed ripping it's arm off Ethan's sword.

"Seems like the top of their arms are armoured while the bottom isn't as armoured" I heard Ethan muse before dashing forward pressing the attack.

Suddenly the two humanoids were on the defense as Ethan began slashing at the two of them repeatedly, they were barely able to block his hits let alone attempt a counterattack but soon the spider had reached them and raised its leg to slam it down onto Ethan's head. Ethan skipped backwards as the leg slammed into the floor and quickly cut the back of its leg causing more blood to spurt out.

The fight had turned into a sort of dance, while the two humanoids were fighting Ethan they were all dancing between the spiders legs as it tried to hit Ethan, it was captivating really seeing how he could handle them all so easily.

Suddenly he found a opportunity and he took it, swinging his sword across the chest of one of the creatures it fell back screaming as black blood poured from the wound, the other seemingly enraged swung wildly at Ethan but he skipped out of the way and the humanoid's claws dug into one of the spiders legs, tearing it's foot from its leg. The spiders scream was deafening, it started stamping even faster, increasing the speed of the dance of blades, teeth and blood.

The opportunity arouse again for Ethan and once again he pounced on it. Cutting down on the arm he cut it off at the shoulder and as the creature flinched back screaming Ethan took his sword in a two handed grip and stabbed the creature through the chest, he kicked the monster off his sword and began to get to work of the spider, making quick cuts on its legs it soon toppled over with no strength left to stand, it squealed as it fell and Ethan ducked out of the way to avoid getting crushed.

The spider struggled as Ethan slowly approached, I'd say there was fear in its eyes but a creature like that doesn't look like it could comprehend what fear was. Ethan's sword flashed forward again and two quick stabs later the spider lay dead.

"Man I hate spiders" Ethan muttered before looking towards the line of monsters.

"You need my help for this?" I called over

"Nah I got this, check the city for the girls." Ethan responded "You may wanna get all your equipment too"

"Gotcha, don't die" I grinned "Blanc wouldn't be happy"

Ethan stumbled and looked back at me, blush already spreading across his cheeks

"Dude come on!" Ethan whined "Not cool!"

"Eh worth it" I chuckled before turning back into the Basilacom. After what I just saw I'd say Ethan will be fine.

* * *

Heya anyone who has stuck around.

So yeah I was hit with major levels of writers block and procrastination. Well that was until these last few weeks I just forgot to post the chapter...heh...

Well anyway!

I shall hopefully start updating this more often and finally finish this story up. Maybe give it a sequel later down the line. Who knows?

Right I shall talk to you all on the next chapter. Bye!

WretchedSpectre


	20. Chapter 20

Running back into the Basilacom I took the stairs two at a time, throwing the UMP onto the floor, I worked better with my sword anyway.

"Kar'zul don't you have some form of radar or something that will help me find everyone!?" Usually I would not complain about taking the stairs as it allowed for some good exercise but now was not exactly the best time to work on my cardio.

"I am an elder dragon of insane power, who can push your strength to the point when you can take on other dragons in an even fight and you want a radar?" Kar'zul sounded slightly offended but I shrugged.

"Would of thought you would have had a radar" I replied innocently as I turned the corner and continued down the corridor.

"You humans continue to surprise, disappoint and annoy me" He grumbled.

Chuckling to myself I pushed open the doors of my room and walked over to the cabinet that held my sword and opened it, revealing the gleaming steel blade, resting inside.

"Kept you waiting huh?" I muttered to myself as I picked the sword up.

"Watch out!" I heard Kar'zul shout before something hit me, launching me through the window.

"What the hell was that!?" I managed to shout over the screaming of the wind, looking behind me as I continued flying through the air I could see one of those creatures screaming at me as it pawed at the air in some weird attempt to catch me "Oh it was that thing"

Normally I would panic but ever since I got here I have been throwing myself through windows and the like so this wasn't anything new except that I was being thrown through a window instead of jumping through it.

"What is it with me and windows?" I asked myself as I slowly managed to rotate myself around to face towards where I was hurtling towards, it looks like a fight was occurring.

"Hey Kar'zul can you see what's going on over there before I hit something!?" I managed to shout, trying to brace myself as I hurtled towards the fight.

"Well I guess you are in luck, IF is fighting down there by herself. She may require some assistance" Kar'zul mused sounding amusement.

"IF!?" I shouted "Kar'zul brace my legs we are making an entrance!"

Feeling something harden around my legs I pointed myself at the monsters surrounding IF who, as I could see now, was injured but still looking fierce and beautiful. Now is not the time to be entranced by her!

In the mere seconds after I finished that thought I slammed into one of the creatures, almost tearing it in half with how fast I hit him, sliding to a stop I looked around to see everything had gone silent, all the monsters and IF just stood there facing me, something akin to surprise on their faces.

"Fletcher?" IF managed to say before the monsters jumped towards both of us, fangs bared.

Running forward I ducked under the outstretched arms of one of the monsters and pushed my sword into the back of one of the monsters while IF ducked and dived to avoid getting hit, her twin blades flashing in the sunlight as she continued her frenzied attack on the creatures.

Pulling my sword out I heard a growl behind me and whipped around, bringing my sword up and catching a meaty paw of another monster from hitting me; pushing it upwards I ran the blade across its body. Apparently the magic I put into the blade while in my dimension is just as useful in this dimension as the blade easily cut through its chest, scales and all.

Hopping back to IF I stood with my back to hers and couldn't help grinning.

"Miss me much?" I chuckled

"More than you realize" She smiled,

"I'm sorry for hiding all this from you" I had to apologise for all that had happened today, she had been through so much and it was my fault.

"We all have our secrets, we can talk better after this but I already forgave you and still love you" She laughed and took up her battle stance again. For me, my heart felt like it was consumed in dragon fire.

"Dragon fire huh? I can help with that" Kar'zul chuckled before I shushed him.

"Ready for the fight of your life?" I asked IF a wide grin coming across my face.

"Always" She kicked off in one direction while I did the same in the other direction. Time for the real fight to begin and I could not wait.


	21. Chapter 21

It felt like we had been fighting for days on end but I was not running out of gas anytime soon and neither was IF by the looks of things. She was like a whirlwind of blades, almost impossible to be seen except for flashes of blue and steel. In comparison I was like a train, slow to start but gaining speed. While she had to dance around monsters and strike from the sides that are vulnerable my sword simply tore through them, while the speed I get through the monsters varied I still cut through them.

Eventually there were no of those monsters standing around and all we could do is stand and look at each other. Each covered in the same black blood that apparently filled these creatures. Well these dead ones.

"Well that was a thing" I managed to laugh rubbing the blood off my sword and looking up at IF. She was still beautiful even with all that blood on her but she would look better without it over her.

"We really need a break" She huffed walking over and leaning against my, her head nestled between my chest and arm.

"That we do" I chuckled lightly leaning against her "But after we've cleaned this mess up"

IF just whined and continued hugging me as I began to think of how we needed to end this. These girls could only fight for so long and until Iris, Neptune and the rest could get their powers back they will not be much of a help so we needed to finish this quickly.

"Hey IF?" I nudged her head with my finger and in return she just grumbled and refused to speak.

"IIIFFF" I whispered into her ear and she grumbled again but looked up at me, the irritation in her eyes was evident.

"Whaaaat?" She almost growled at me, which if it was not for the battle we had been in I would of thought that she was going to kill me.

"Are these things being controlled by that hag who was screaming?" I asked her, gently patting her head gently in a desperate attempt to calm down the adorable dragon hugging me.

"I would assume so, these things are mindless and only seem to listen to her voice" She grumbled but a smile playing across her face due to the attention she was being given.

And right on cue I could hear her screaming even with the distance between us.

"Well looks like I should go for her then" I mumbled before I felt IF grab my face and make me look at her.

"That is a suicide run and I am not losing you" She growled before I grinned.

"Sorry but it's got to be done, we both know if someone does not take her out this fight is not going to end" I attempted to pull away but she held on tightly

"Why have you got to throw your life away? We can secure the city and then push out together" IF growled again but I think she already knew I was not going to give up.

"I was hired to stop these dragons and I do not want to see you girls hurt" I smiled before gently pulling away from her "I'll be back so no worries"

"You had better" She sniffed before reaching up and pressing her lips against mine, she pulled back quickly a smile playing across her face. "I'll tell Ethan so he can meet you"

"Thanks IF" I'll be honest I did not want to leave like this with such a high chance of not coming back but this was gonna be the only way to save everyone, just hoping I can get back to her.

Turning away I started off towards where all the shrieking was coming from, while I have not really killed someone human before it looks like it may be required to win this fight.

 _One burning city jog later_

Turning a corner I took in the scene before me. Between me and the gate leading outside of the city was a dozen different monsters and someone was on the ramparts. Something about that person told me to avoid being seen by then but the way they suddenly focused on me told me they had already seen me.

"Would you look at that" I heard their voice ring out as the monsters started stumbling towards us "You're the one who dodged my shot"

"The mystery sniper" I replied, leaving a brief pause

"One and only" The figured replied "Now let us see if you can fight under pressure from a sniper firing at you"

In a couple seconds his arms whipped up and the first shot was underway, barely able to skip out of its path I rushed towards the monsters, noting how the wall I was beside had been obliterated by the shot.

Ducking under the first monsters swinging arm I brought my sword in an upwards arc, cutting deep into the flesh of the creatures side and staying there. As it screamed I swung upwards as another shot flew by, slamming into the floor where my head once lay cracking the concrete and launching dust high into the air.

Reaching behind me, I pulled the broken sword out and flicked it forward into the head of another creature, causing it to stop dead. Pun intended.

Pulling the sword back out I brought it around in another sharp arc, this time removing the head of the creature and kicking off towards the next monster.

"Kar'zul we need to hurry this up and get past this guy" I hissed skipping away from the path of another round before engaging the creature again.

"Then I'll move more power to your arms and legs but be warned, taking a hit will cause more damage than before" I heard him growl but all of my focus was on the battle at hand so I barely registered what he said before my arms and legs felt like they were on fire.

Roaring in both pain and anger I was suddenly launched forward towards the creatures slicing one in half in one sharp swing. The wind howled from the force and speed of the strike before I dashed forward again, swinging at such a speed and force that if it was not for Kar'zul bonding with me and increasing how tough I was my arms would have snapped off at the shoulders and flew away like two deadly windmills.

Jumping onto one of the creatures I felt my arms stab it multiple times before kicking off and onto another as a bullet ripped into where I was before, blowing the creature apart covering everything in black blood.

"What's happening?" I thought seeing my arms move still, tearing creatures apart and my legs making me dodge bullets.

"This is a side effect" Kar'zul replied remorsefully "We have bonded to a further level quicker than I intended.

"Meaning?" I replied watching as I picked up my broken sword and swing it around in an underhand grip.

"Meaning… I'm in control right now" Kar'zul replied.

"Well that would explain how animalistic and badass I'm acting" I mused for a second "now hold on a minute am I going to get back in control at some point?"

"Of course but with all the commotion going on it may be best to leave it to me" Kar'zul replied, I could see the toothy grin on his face.

"Fine but after these things are dead I'm back in control" I tried my best not to sulk "Make it quick" emphases on tried.

With a chuckle Kar'zul flipped my body backwards and slotted the broken blade back into its sheath and made me hold my sword in both hands.

"What are you doing!?" I shouted in horror.

"Finishing this quickly" He growled as all the monsters jumped towards me when he swung my sword twice in front of him, tearing all the creatures back before whirling around and bringing the blade down onto the bullet which was hurtling towards us. It split clean in two and flew behind us, slamming into the walls of two buildings behind us.

There was a pause when I felt myself regain control of my body and it felt like I had been holding my breath during that.

"While awesome don't ever do that again" I wheezed "I don't think my heart can take that"

"Noted, I would not bother with the sniper he looks preoccupied" Kar'zul replied.

Looking up I could see another figure had joined him, a dark flame behind the newcomer and exotic blade gave away who it was in a second.

"Looks like Ethan got the message" I mused picking my sword up and after sheathing it started jogging towards the gate. Thanks to my increased hearing I could easily hear what they were saying.

"So finally ready to kill me like you were supposed to? Hang up my body with all these other monsters to the world?" I heard the sniper Dunn start, pulling the bolt back on his rifle and slotting the next round in quickly.

"The people I work with are not the monsters. That old hag you work with is the real monster" Ethan replied, twirling his sword around.

"Whatever, our gods will decide who is right and who is wrong after this" Dunn spits back, the venom engraved deep into his voice.

"I gave up on the religion from our religion when I came to this dimension" Ethan replied, taking up a combat stance. "I'll prove to you that these girls are not the enemy"

"You'll die without a scream or prayer" Dunn retorted, lifting his rifle and pointing it at Ethan.

Shaking my head to clear my doubts I continued with my Journey towards the hag, I was not going to interrupt his battle or make fun of him this time. He needed to confront his past by himself.


	22. Chapter 22

Ethan's hand flicked upward firing his pistol in one hand as he ran forward, the familiar _crack_ of his pistol throwing its bullets flying towards Dunn. Quickly Dunn threw himself off the side of the wall; pulling out a small grappling gun like object, he fired it at one of the close buildings swinging himself around while bringing a rifle up and firing at Ethan.

Leaping after Dunn, Ethan managed to just avoid the sniper shot as it obliterated the place Ethan was standing before. Running along the floor Ethan continued firing at the swinging sniper, skipping from side to side to avoid the deadly shots raining down from the sniper.

Soon they reached an open square in the city and Dunn landed heavily rolling swiftly and bringing his rifle up but had to dodge as Ethan jumped at him swinging his sword in sharp and fast patterns keeping him off balance.

"Back off!" Dunn roared pulling out a small cube and pressing a button causing a shockwave to occur launching Ethan back, bringing his rifle up Dunn began to fire round after round toward Ethan causing him to retreat.

"You need to accept that the ones you fight with are the enemy here!" Ethan growled peering around the corner of the building before throwing himself backwards as another shot tore the corner of wall he was looking out from.

"I no longer care about that" Dunn replied, venom still pouring through his voice "You need to die. Now. So my fallen brothers can come back to life"

"What? Who told you that?" Ethan shouted back, crouching and moving around in the shadows to avoid being seen by Dunn and his sharp eyes.

"Arfoire. She has the power to return my men to life again after what you did to us. Executioner" Dunn spat out and pulled out another object but this one was a cylinder and throwing it where he last saw Ethan.

Recognizing what it was Ethan threw himself from behind the wall and planted his hands onto the floor, launching himself upwards to avoid the following shots that were sent his way. An explosion rang out just after the second shot.

"I see you kept your tricks still" Ethan grumbled diving in and out of cover to avoid getting shot

"To take out a threat like you I need every advantage I can get" Dunn grinned firing at Ethan every time he appeared.

"Arfoire is using you don't you get it!?" Ethan shouted rolling over the wall and sprinting towards Dunn again firing his pistol. The bullets this time hitting Dunn's leg and rifle, blood running slowly from the bullet wound in his leg.

Growling, Dunn pulled out a short sword and started fighting against Ethan but he could not keep up with Ethan's skill and speed at close range due to his injury to his leg.

Eventually Ethan overpowered Dunn and knocked him to the ground. Leaping on top of him Ethan pointed the blade to Dunn's throat.

"Now, are you going to listen to reason and see the evidence?" Panting slightly Ethan glared into Dunn's eyes, refusing to look away from him.

"Fine" Dunn spat "Show me this 'evidence' you supposedly have"

Ethan paused for a second to catch his breath when a load crash broke the tension as more monsters broke through various remains of buildings to get to them.

"Looks like my rescue has arrived" Dunn grinned as Ethan hopped off him in preparation to fight when another voice rang out.

"Get down!"

Ducking down as two white blurs flew over Ethan's head smashing into the horde of monsters.

"Blanc? White Heart?" Ethan could not help but smile with joy and affection at the two girls as they tore the creatures apart.

Hearing more screeching Ethan took one last look at Dunn before bounding towards where the girls were, assisting them in the fight. Leaving Dunn to watch as the three of them fought with each other as a team. Something Dunn missed dearly.

"Maybe I was wrong about them" Dunn mused before getting up, picking his rifle up after some trouble with his leg. The scope had been destroyed by Ethan's previous shots but the rifle itself was still useable.

Hearing an inhuman screech come from behind him, Dunn turned only to be launched backwards onto his back. Looking up Dunn watched as a monster pounced at him. Black shattered fangs bared, ready to tear his flesh from his bones.

"No!" Ethan screamed, trying to run to assist the fallen sniper. But was dragged back into the fight with the remaining creatures. Blanc and White Heart were too focused to hear Ethan or see what was happening to Dunn.

A single shot rang out across the battlefield and the monster fell onto Dunn. He did not even have the chance to scream.

Ethan ran to the monster and tried to pull the body off Dunn but could not. He simply was not strong enough to pick the creature up or even shift it.

"God dammit" He growled "Just when he finally saw the truth, that hag had to kill him"

"Not yet dumbass" Dunn's voice could be heard under the monster "This tub of lard is just squashing me "

"Oh" Ethan paused for a second "Want me to get it off you?"

There was a brief pause in which Blanc and White Heart floated over, looking at the corpse that held the sniper down with amusement.

"What do you think?" Dunn growled from under the creatures corpse.

"Want me to get it off him?" Blanc spoke up "You are a sissy"

"Yeah if that is okay" Ethan smiled "Though I am not a sissy"

"Yeah sure keep telling yourself that" White Heart snickered before they both easily moved the corpse off a very annoyed Dunn.

Standing up Dunn brushed himself down before looking at Ethan.

"Well if that does not shown us that Arfoire wants me dead and was lying out of her ass I don't know what does" Dunn said nonchalantly.

"You are way too calm about this" Blanc deadpanned.

"Says you" Dunn retorted.

"Well if you two are finished we need to go find Fletcher" Ethan got in between the two of them.

"You two should probably save everyone else" Dunn replied pulling the bolt back "I'll be able to keep an eye on your friend"

"You are seriously thinking we are going to trust you with this?" White Heart asked, putting her hands on her hips

"Think you can cover him with such a distance?" Ethan asked seriously

"Ethan!" Both Blanc and White Heart shouted in protest

"Easily" Dunn replied, holding his hand out and Ethan grasped it firmly.

"Good to have you on board" Ethan grinned.

"Good to finally be on the right side. After this though you and me need to get a drink and sort this shit out" Dunn grinned back, they were like two kids in the playground after a big fight, friends already.

Turning quickly Dunn began walking towards the wall, pulling out another scope and replacing the broken one with ease.

"That man always has spare equipment. Like seriously he is always prepared for his equipment to break" Ethan mused "For the hundred odd times we've fought he always has back up equipment"

"How can you trust him with covering Fletcher? For all we know he could just shoot him" Blanc growled.

"I trust him" Ethan shrugged.

"By the way" Dunn shouted over his shoulder as he continued walking "Your girlfriend is as flat as a two by four"

"Oh shit…" Ethan muttered looking down at Blanc and White Heart, whose face told the tale of pure rage.

"Let's kill some monsters" Blanc muttered darkly before they both flew off towards the sounds of battle.

"Dunn you owe me a drink for this" Ethan almost whimpered, following along behind the girls "And a lot of pain killers"


End file.
